New Delhi, 21 November (H.S): The Sixth Edition of Indo - France joint military exercise “Ex SHAKTI 2021” has commenced at the Military School of Draguignan, France with an opening ceremony on 15 Nov 21. 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 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 grueling 36 hours exercise to validate the standards achieved during the two phases.

The contingent apart from joint training went to visit MAZARGUES War Cemetery in Marseilles where 1,002 Indian soldiers of the First World War have been cremated. The Indian and French contingents together presented a Guard of Honor and paid their homage to commemorate the valour of the fallen bravehearts.Hindusthan Samachar/