The officers, aged, 27 and 31 were ordered to pay a €1,000 fine each for their antics by a French criminal court in the town of Meaux near Paris on Thursday.

The offense dates back to the afternoon of Saturday June 22 this year when the officers, dressed in civilian clothes, were passing the British war memorial in Ferté-sous-Jouarre, which stands on the south bank of the River Marne, 66 km east of Paris.

The pair, one a policeman based in Paris and the other a member of the special protection unit, were said to be drunk and reportedly dropped the trousers in front of the British memorial, the town's gendarmes told The Local on Thursday.

A shocked resident of the village was witness to the lewd act and called the local gendarmes military police.

The two men were arrested and immediately admitted the accusation against them.

The prosecution were not inclined to give the pair a slap on the wrist and charged them with indecent exposure (exhibition sexuelle), pointing to the fact their behaviour was “disrespectful towards the dead as well as to the dignity of the office.”

The British memorial at Ferté-sous-Jouarre commemorates the 3,740 members of the British expeditionary force who were killed in battles in the region in October 1914 and have no known graves.

It’s also known as the Memorial to the Missing of the Marne and includes the names of the soldiers in order of regiment and rank.

The maximum sentence the officers had faced was one year in prison and a €15,000 fine.

(The British war memorial at Ferté-sous-Jouarre. Photo: Jan Jampuis/Flickr)