2026 Bastille Day Military Parade | French Foreign Legion Information

Paris marked Bastille Day (France’s national day) on July 14, 2026, with its annual military parade down the Champs-Élysées, running from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde in front of President Emmanuel Macron — his last such parade before his term ends in 2027. As usual, the French Foreign Legion participated.

This year’s edition was one of the largest in recent memory, with French officials citing roughly 6,700 marching troops, some 300 vehicles, nearly 100 aircraft, dozens of helicopters, and close to 200 horses from the Republican Guard, the ceremonial cavalry unit that traditionally escorts the head of state. The event carried a strong European and Ukrainian theme: nearly 500 allied troops from 35 nations of the so-called Coalition of the Willing opened the parade, and about 25 Ukrainian soldiers marched down the avenue while Ukrainian pilots training in France flew alongside French colleagues aboard Mirage 2000 jets.

Beyond President Macron, the parade was watched from the presidential stand by some 30 heads of state and government, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The French Foreign Legion fielded three marching formations totaling 209 personnel.

Leading the Foreign Legion’s contingent, as is traditional, were 39 Pioneers — the bearded sappers in leather aprons who carry axes and symbolically clear the way for the column, a nod to the combat engineers who once opened routes for marching troops. The detachment was led by Adjudant-chef Jean-Sébastien and belonged to the 1st Foreign Regiment (1er RE), the Legion’s founding regiment headquartered in Aubagne.

Behind them came the 57-strong Foreign Legion Band, also based in Aubagne, led by Adjudant-chef Andrei as tambour-major — the band’s senior drummer and ceremonial leader. The band included a drum-and-bugle section as well as a chapeau chinois, a bell-tree-like percussion instrument with roots in Ottoman military music that has long been a fixture of French military bands. The band sets the Legion’s distinctive marching cadence of about 88 steps per minute, noticeably slower than the pace kept by other French units.

Closing out the Legion’s column, and in fact the entire marching portion of the parade, were 113 men of the 1st Foreign Engineer Regiment (1er REG), one of the Legion’s two combat engineer regiments. Based in Laudun-l’Ardoise in the Gard department, it is part of the 6th Light Armored Brigade (6e BLB). The formation, drawn from two of the regiment’s companies plus its color guard, marched behind Colonel Benoît Dorigny, the regiment’s commanding officer.

Because the Legion’s slower cadence would otherwise create a gap in the column, the legionnaires traditionally marched last, right before the motorized columns began.

Interestingly, it was the 1er REG’s first appearance on the Champs-Élysées in 12 years. Sadly, that same day — on July 14, 2014 — a non-commissioned officer of the 1er REG, Dejvid Nikolic, was killed in Mali.

PHOTOS – Foreign Legion and the 2026 Military Parade in Paris

VIDEO – 2026 Military Parade:
The marching Foreign Legion formations can be seen in the video starting at 01:55:00.

VIDEO – 2026 Military Parade – Rehearsals:
Here are two official videos of the Foreign Legion rehearsing ahead of the 2026 Bastille Day Parade in Paris.

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