1 / 9Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accompanied by French President Emmanuel Macron, on Wednesday, February 12, visited the historic Mazargues Cemetery in Marseille. There, they paid tribute to the Indian soldiers who sacrificed their lives during the Great War. (Image: AP)
2 / 9During a solemn ceremony at the site, PM Modi laid a wreath of tricolor-themed flowers, followed by French President Emmanuel Macron, who also offered a wreath in tribute, the PTI reported. (Image: Reuters)
3 / 9Honoring the soldiers who fought alongside their French counterparts in World War I, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute at the iconic site, which also houses an ‘Indian Memorial.’ With folded hands and a gentle bow, he solemnly remembered their sacrifices. (Image: AP)
4 / 9A band played on the lawns enhancing the solemnity of the occasion. (Image: PTI)
5 / 9Later, the two leaders walked through the cemetery grounds and placed roses on memorial tablets mounted on a wall inside the stone pavilion at the historic site. (Image: PTI)
6 / 9This war cemetery, maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), commemorates many Indian soldiers. According to CWGC, it honors 1,487 casualties from 1914-18 and 267 from 1939-45. A memorial at the rear commemorates 205 Indian soldiers who were cremated. The Mazargues Indian Memorial was unveiled by Field Marshal Sir William Birdwood in July 1925, and the cemetery spans 9,021 square meters. (Image: PTI)
7 / 9Mazargues is a southern suburb (the 9th Arrondissement), some six kilometres from the centre of Marseilles in France. Marseilles was the base of the Indian troops in France during the 1914-18 war and throughout the War the Royal Navy, the Merchant Navy, British troops and labour units worked in the port or passed through it, the CWGC website said. (Image: PTI)
8 / 9Four of the town cemeteries were used, in the main, for the burial of officers and men of the Commonwealth forces who died at Marseilles. At St. Pierre Cemetery, on the east side of the town, the bodies of Hindu soldiers and labourers were cremated in 1914-16. Le Canet Old Cemetery and Le Canet New Cemetery, on the north side, were in 1917-19, the places of burial for Indian soldiers and Indian, Egyptian and Chinese labourers, it added. (Image: Narendra Modi/X)
9 / 9In April 2015, Prime Minister Modi during his visit to France paid homage to the World War I memorial in Neuve Chapelle, to honour around 4,700 Indian soldiers who laid down their lives in battles in France and Belgium during the Great War. “Our soldiers who fought in foreign lands in the Great War, have won the admiration of the world for dedication, loyalty, courage and sacrifice. I salute them,” the Prime Minister had written in the visitor’s book at the memorial. (Image: PMO/X)
