The singer Anna Marli was called the muse of the French Resistance, and her "Partisan Song" almost became the national anthem of France. However, the artist's real name was not French. She was born in Petrograd and was known among the White émigrés as Anna Yuryevna Betulinskaya. After the October Revolution, her family emigrated, and at first, the young aristocrat performed in small Parisian cabarets. Over time, she changed her difficult-to-pronounce surname Betulinskaya to the simpler Marli, which she randomly found in a telephone directory. Anna Yuryevna was not only a talented singer but also possessed natural beauty. In 1937, she participated in the "Miss Russia" contest and received the title of Vice-Miss Russia.

A new chapter in her life began after the Germans occupied France: she had to flee to Britain. It was there that the famous military march was born. Shortly before performing for English soldiers, Anna came across a newspaper with reports of fierce battles near Smolensk. "The city is besieged, destroyed, fires are raging, but the Russians are defending themselves like lions," Marli recalled. Almost unarmed residents retreat into the forest, set ambushes, and charge at the enemy. This scene deeply moved her, and she began to tap out the rhythm of the footsteps of people walking down the road.

The melody was born quickly, and within an hour, Anna composed several verses. She performed the "Partisan Song" that same day, and the English applauded her standing. Soon the composition became the unofficial anthem of fighting France. It accompanied soldiers into battle, it was sung as they died, it served as a call sign for the underground French radio. Only the Russian partisans, to whom it was dedicated, knew nothing of the song. Anna Yuryevna lived a long and happy life. In 2000, she had the honor of lighting the eternal flame at the grave of the Unknown Soldier in front of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris before the eyes of thousands of French people.