[3] In 1914, on the outbreak of World War I, Argeyev resigned his Russian commission (after refusing to carry out a punishment on a soldier that he considered undeserved[5]) and moved to France, enlisting in the French Foreign Legion with the rank of lieutenant on 12 September 1914.

He was assigned to the 131st Infantry Regiment, and participated in the Battle of the Marne, in which he received a head injury but returned to the front in October.

[4] In January 1916, having been ruled unfit for infantry service due to his injuries, Argeyev requested a transfer to the Armée de l'Air.

[6] After having accumulated flying hours on the Western Front with Escadrille N48,[4] he returned to Russia and was made a Captain of the Imperial Russian Air Service, assigned to the 12th Fighter Detachment on 20 October 1916.

[7] In May 1918, as the Russian Revolution raged on, Argeyev returned to France due to the hostile attitudes of the Bolsheviks towards the Tsar's officer corps.

[7] Now flying a SPAD XIII,[2] within the few months he spent in the French air force, he considerably expanded his victory score.

[7] Reluctant to return to the USSR, he continued flying as a test pilot and was killed on 20 October 1922 near Trutnov, Czechoslovakia when his Potez aircraft crashed in the Sudetes mountains.