April 22, 2018 in the commune Courcy (Department of Marne, France) will be a series of events in conjunction with the 101st anniversary of the commune’s liberation by soldiers of the Russian Expeditionary Force.

During the First World War, the commune Courcy was liberated from German troops by the Russian Expeditionary Force (REF), which fought in France as part of its allied commitments. From April 16-19, 1917, the 1st and 3rd brigades of the REF completely fulfilled their assigned tasks, seizing a number of German defense points, capturing a significant number of soldiers and officers. For the shown heroism many soldiers of REF were awarded high French and Russian orders and medals. The April offensive was the last for the Russian Expeditionary Force to participate in military operations. Of 20,000 of the REF soldiers a quarter perished (more than 800 of our soldiers gave their lives for the liberation of the Courcy). Some of the survived fighters returned to their homeland, some remained in France.

Commemorative events will be attended by the mayor of the commune Courcy - Martine Jolly, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the French Republic Alexei Meshkov, descendants of soldiers and officers of the Russian Expeditionary Force, French and Russian politicians, representatives of public organizations of the two countries.

This day the flower-laying to a monument to "The Russian soldier", rewarding active participants with a commemorative medal of the actions devoted to the centennial celebration of Courcy liberation will take place. The Russian Military Historical Society, the Cultural Heritage Foundation “Russian Vityaz”, the historical-patriotic association "Keepers of Time", the Russian Embassy in French Republic are involved in preparing the event.

In the run-up to the celebration the International charity event "From Descendants to Descendants" designed to unite descendants of soldiers of the Russian Expeditionary Force in Russia and France will take place. Dreaming of reestablishing a connection with the historical Motherland, grandsons and great-grandchildren of our compatriots announced in France an action to collect teddy bears. The collected toys will be sent to one of the Russian Orphanages. The symbol of the action is a reminder of the touching story of the brown bear, which the soldiers of the 3rd Special Brigade of the REF bought in Yekaterinburg and took with them as a talisman. Despite the many bloody battles in which Russian troops took part, the bear survived, and after the war was taken to the zoo, where he lived for many more years.

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In 2015, in memory of the REF soldiers’ heroism, in the center of Courcy, a monument to the "Russian Soldier" (sculptor Alexander Taratinov) was erected by the Russian Military Historical Society.

- Our countries were allies in two most terrible military conflicts in the history of our civilization - the World War I and World War II, - the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Chairman of the Russian Military Historical Society Vladimir Medinsky told at the monument opening ceremony. He noted that in 1916-1917 the Russian soldiers have made an extraordinary feat. Battling shoulder to shoulder with brothers-in-arms in France, they have stopped the offensive of the German divisions.

On the monument in Courcy, a REF soldier is holding a French girl in his arms: this is a real episode, imprinted on one of the photographs of those years. Also the author "has enclosed" a toy bear cub in sculpture hands.

- We really like this monument, because it is very symbolic. The soldier gives the girl a teddy bear. For us it is the personification of those Russian soldiers who saved the children of our village during that war," said the Mayor of Courcy Martine Jolly.

To date, in France there are more than 200 burials of Russian soldiers and officers, it is more than 11,000 dead soldiers. Search work is continued.

In 2017, the International Military-Historical Expedition of the Russian Military Historical Society (the RMHS) “Expeditionary Force "Russian Expeditionary Force. Courcy" has taken place. The search group of the RMHS, which conducted excavations, discovered the remains of a soldier of the Russian Expeditionary Force, who died here in April 1917, as well as hundreds of household items, uniforms and armaments of opposing armies.

In the spring of 2018, another monument to soldiers and officers of the Russian Expeditionary Force will be opened 15 kilometers from Reims on Mount Mont-Spin.

Reference about the activities of The Russian Military Historical Society