© Vince1111 via Flickr
On 14 July 2024, in the run-up to the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, the famous and magnificent military parade will be taking place on the Avenue Foch, just a stone's throw from the Champs-Élysées. The public is expected to flock to this major Parisian thoroughfare to enjoy this not-to-be-missed event in the programme of French National Day festivities.
Lasting two hours, the 2024 parade celebrates Olympism as well as the 80th anniversary of the landings and the Liberation of France. The military formations, reduced for this year, aim to stage the Normandy and Provence landings, as well as the liberations of Paris and Strasbourg.
From 10am to midday, the Avenue Foch and the skies over Paris will play host to more than 4,000 soldiers on foot, 39 aircraft, 23 helicopters, and 200 horses from the Republican Guard.
Details of the programme:
- This year, the orchestre de la musique de l'Air et de l'Espace will perform the emblematic military march Le jour le plus long by Paul Anka. Then two choristers from the chœur de l'Armée française perform Douce France.
- The emblem of 31 countries that took part in the Liberation of France, accompanied by two bagpipes, perform Blue Bonnets over the Border, a song significant to the Liberation. These include 14 countries that took part in the Normandy landings: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Poland, Luxembourg, Australia and New Zealand, and 17 African countries: Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Benin, Cameroon, the Comoros, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Gabon, Guinea, Madagascar, Mauritania, Senegal, the Central African Republic, Chad and Togo.
- The flypast passes from the Arc de Triomphe to Porte Dauphine. 39 aircraft, including 29 from the French Air Force and six from the French Navy, celebrated the Normandy and Provence landings. The Patrouille de France closed the flypast with its 9 Alpha Jets.
- The parade ends with an animation about armies and Olympism. The Olympic flame was escorted by horsemen to the foot of the presidential rostrum. The bearer, Colonel Thibault Vallette, crossed the Olympic rings accompanied by young sportsmen and women. The French national anthem, the Marseillaise, was sung by 150 singers as the Patrouille de France marched past.
- it is advised to arrive very early
- Terraces on the Champs-Élysées will be closed
Line 1 : Charles de Gaulle-Étoile, George V, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Champs-Élysées-Clémenceau, Concorde and Tuileries
Line 2 : Charles de Gaulle-Étoile, Porte Dauphine
Line 6 : Charles de Gaulle-Étoile
Line 8 : Concorde
Line 9 : Franklin D. Roosevelt
Line 12 : Concorde
Line 13 : Champs-Élysées-Clémenceau
RER A : Charles de Gaulle-Étoile
© Fotolia Crobard
Alongside the parade, the French have the opportunity to meet the soldiers on the esplanade des Invalides. The programme for the day includes an exhibition of military vehicles, demonstrations, musical and sporting events...
