A British merchant ensign flown by the German raider 'Moewe' as false colours. The ensign is made of wool bunting, machine-sewn with part of the design printed. A rope and two Inglefield clips are attached to hoist it.

SMS 'Moewe' was an armed German merchant raider and minelayer, originally the banana carrier 'Pungo'. Commanded by Burggraf und Graf zu Dohna-Schlodien she twice avoided the British blockade to raid commerce in the central and southern Atlantic, principally targeting the grain trade. During her first cruise from 29 December 1915 to 4 March 1916 she sank or captured 12 ships, and during her second voyage from 23 November 1916 to 22 March 1917 she sank 27 ships. Her commander generally landed captured personnel in neutral territory but he occasionally used a British merchant ensign as a 'ruse de guerre'.

The ensign was deposited on 7 December 1918 a local police station in Strasbourg by Emile Kirchner, a sailor in the German Imperial Navy. He was employed at the Headquarters of the Second Naval Division at Wilmhelmshaven when 'Moewe' was paid off there two years before. Kirschner originated in Alsace, by now in French hands. He stated to the French police: 'To demonstrate German trickery once again, I believed it my duty as an Alsatian to take this ensign, conceal it, and hand it over...to the French authorities when their Army would be in my reconquered country'. The niece of the then High Commissioner at Strasbourg, Madame M. Dupont-Foiret handed in the ensign to the British Embassy in Paris in 1946. She presented the flag to the museum in October 1946.