Indian, French contingents participating in joint military exercise visit war cemetery in Marseilles

The Indian and French contingent, participating in Joint Military Exercise 'EX-SHAKTI', visited the war cemetery in Marseilles where Indian soldiers of World War I were cremated.

Taking to Twitter on Saturday, Additional Directorate General of Public Information of the Indian Army said the contingents paid homage and "presented a Guard of Honour to the bravehearts".

As many as 1,002 Indian soldiers of the First World War have been cremated in the Mazargues War Cemetery.

"Indian and French contingent presenting a Guard of Honour to the bravehearts at the Mazargues War Cemetery, France," the tweet read.

The Sixth Edition of Indo-France joint military exercise "Ex SHAKTI 2021" commenced at the Military School of Draguignan, France on November 15, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

The Indian Army contingent is being represented by a composite team of three Officers, three Junior Commissioned Officers and 37 soldiers from a battalion of Gorkha Rifles and support Arms.

The training so far has focused on aspects of joint planning, mutual understanding of the conduct of operations and identification of coordination aspects required for jointly operating in a counter-terrorism environment under United Nations mandate.

The participating contingents have also been put through paces of combat conditioning and tactical training which included firing drills and 'battle hardening' work sessions.

The exercise is being conducted in two phases which will culminate with a gruelling 36 hours exercise to validate the standards achieved during the two phases.

( With inputs from ANI )