Along with Koehler, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was invited as a special guest for the annual military parade in Paris.

The parade is one of the grand occasions in the French calendar and marks the storming of the Bastille fortress in 1789, traditionally seen as the start of the French revolution.

Ceremoniously-dressed Indian troops and German soldiers marched down the Champs Elysees along with some of France's most modern military units while jets flew in formation overhead.

Special Franco-German relationship

Koehler said the decision to invite him showed that French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave "special significance to Franco-German relations."

Earlier this year, Sarkozy announced that France would return to the NATO command structure after more than 40 years. As part of the move, a German battalion will be deployed on French soil for the first time since invading German forces were forced out of France at the end of World War II.

The German president said that the marching of German troops down the Champs Elysees was a reminder of the "terrible history" between France and Germany and that it was important the two countries drew permanent lessons from it.

"European integration and the continuation of the European project are the lasting answers to it," Koehler said.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's presence at the Bastille Day celebrations is a sign of deepening relations between France and India.

In recent years, Paris has signed a number of arms deals with India as French companies seek new markets for their military and nuclear technology.

Unrest on eve of Bastille holiday

On the eve of the Bastille Day celebrations, police in Paris said French youths set 317 cars on fire and injured 13 police officers.

Police said 240 people had been arrested, almost double the number held after unrest on the same day last year.

Riots and car-burning by gangs of youths living primarily in France's run-down suburban ghettos have become a regular occurrence at the start of Bastille Day.

In October and November 2005, youths burned some 9,000 vehicles after riots erupted in more than 300 communities throughout France following the deaths of two teenagers from immigrant families in a Paris suburb.

sp/dpa/afp/reuters

Editor: Neil King