After a year without, Covid obliges, France returns Wednesday July 14 with the tradition of the military parade on the occasion of its national day, but caution will remain in order as the country tries to avoid a fourth epidemic wave of the very contagious Delta variant.

In 2020, in the midst of the pandemic's explosion, the July 14 parade had been canceled - unheard of since World War II - replaced by a ceremony at Place de la Concorde.

This year marks the return of troops, flags and armored vehicles to the famous Parisian avenue of the Champs-Élysées, but access to the show will be limited, spectators must have a health pass and wear a mask.

The gauge in the stands will also be set at 10,000 people against 25,000 in normal times.

Pressure on the unvaccinated

At a time when the virus is on the rise in France, President Emmanuel Macron put pressure on the unvaccinated on Monday: the vaccination of caregivers will now be compulsory and a health pass will soon be requested at the entrance of most public places.

For the military, the question has already been settled: for a few months now, French troops sent on foreign operations have been obliged to be vaccinated.

The 2021 edition of the parade will mobilize 5,000 participants, including 4,300 soldiers on foot, 73 planes, 24 helicopters, 221 vehicles and 200 horses of the Republican Guard.

The Head of State will attend alongside his Chief of Defense Staff, General François Lecointre, who will give way a week later to the current Chief of Staff of the Army. , the legionary Thierry Burkhard.

"Winning the future"

"Winning the future" is the theme of this 2021 edition, with a double reference to the health battle led by the French but also to the necessary preparation of the armies for "tougher, so-called high intensity engagements, based on high-tech equipment ", according to the military governor of Paris, General Christophe Abad.

The Griffon armored vehicle, a new generation personnel carrier, will parade for the first time.

It should soon be deployed in the Sahel.

After the traditional air parade opened by the Patrouille de France, a contingent of European special forces participating in the "Task Force Takuba" will launch the parade on foot on the Champs-Élysées. 

Eight nations (France, Belgium, Estonia, Italy, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Portugal, Sweden) contribute to this group initiated by France to support Malian forces in combat.

Takuba will occupy a central place in the future anti-jihadist system in the Sahel, where Paris intends to reduce its military personnel after eight years of presence.

Tribute to municipal police officers

For the first time, municipal police officers, in this case from the city of Nice (south-east), will march in Paris on the front line of two attacks in recent years: the ram-truck attack which left 86 dead on the 14th. July 2016, then the assault on the Basilica of Nice in October 2020, in which three people were killed.

The navy will honor its submariners, with the presence of the crew of the Emerald nuclear attack submarine (ANS), returning from a seven-month mission in the strategic Indo-Pacific region. 

The Air Force, for its part, will parade its new Space Command, created in 2019.

The Army Health Service (SSA), very mobilized since the start of the pandemic which has killed more than 111,000 people in France, will also be represented.

The 2-hour parade will end in music with a choir of 120 young people.

Several activities will then be offered in the capital.

The public will be able to donate blood at the Hôtel des Invalides for the benefit of soldiers injured in operations.

In the evening, a fireworks display will sparkle the sky above the Eiffel Tower.

With AFP

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