French soldiers in Republic Day parade - same regiment fought British in Tipu Sultan's second Mysore war (With video)

The Aquitaine Regiment was withdrawn from the Indian subcontinent in 1784 and was to return only in 2016. (Video below) Twitter pic

January 2016, NewsCrunch

A French military contingent comprising 124 soldiers became the the first foreign soldiers to take part in the Republic Day parade.

This was not the first time they had marched in the Indian subcontinent. Over 230 years ago they were on active combat duty assisting Tiger of Mysore Tipu Sultan's battle against the British.

Seventy-six French soldiers, who marched on Rajpath on Tuesday, were drawn from the 35th Infantry Regiment of the French Army, which was formerly known as 35 Aquitaine Regiment.

That was the unit which fought the Second Anglo-Mysore War (1780-84) taking Tipu Sultan's side against the British.

The battle saw 12,000 French and Tipu's troops, taking on about 10,600 European and Indian soldiers under the British.

One of those taken prisoner was Jean Baptiste de Bernadotte, who later became the king of Sweden and whose descendants are still nominally in charge.

The Aquitaine Regiment was withdrawn from the Indian subcontinent in 1784 and was to return only in 2016.