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Paths of Glory

In 1916, during World War I in Northern France, French Major General Georges Broulard orders his subordinate, Brigadier General Paul Mireau, to take "the Anthill", a well-defended German position. Mireau initially refuses, citing the impossibility of success. When Broulard mentions a potential promotion, Mireau convinces himself the attack will succeed. In the trenches, Mireau throws a private out of the regiment for showing signs of shell shock. Mireau leaves the planning of the attack to Colonel Dax, despite Dax's protests.

Before the attack, drunken Lieutenant Roget leads a night-time scouting mission, sending one of his two men ahead. Overcome by fear while waiting for the man's return, Roget lobs a grenade, accidentally killing the scout. Corporal Paris, the surviving scout, confronts Roget, who denies wrongdoing and falsifies his report to Colonel Dax.

The daylight attack on the Anthill is a failure. Dax leads the first wave of soldiers into no man's land under heavy rifle and machine gun fire but none of them reach the German trenches and the follow up waves refuse to attack. Mireau orders his artillery to fire on them to force them onto the battlefield. The artillery commander refuses without written confirmation of the order.

To deflect blame for the attack's failure, Mireau decides to court-martial a hundred soldiers for cowardice. Broulard orders Mireau to reduce the number and Mireau asks each company in the attacking wave to select one man. Roget picks Corporal Paris to keep him from testifying about the scouting mission. Private Ferol is deemed a "social undesirable" by his commander. Private Arnaud is chosen at random by lots, despite being decorated twice for heroism.

Dax, a criminal defense lawyer in civilian life, volunteers to defend the men at their court-martial. The trial, however, is a farce. There is no formal written indictment, a court stenographer is not present, and the court refuses to admit evidence that would support acquittal. In his closing statement, Dax angrily denounces the proceedings. Dax later informs Broulard that Mireau had ordered their artillery to fire onto French soldiers. Despite Dax's efforts to save his men, the sentence of death is confirmed and the condemned men are eventually shot by firing squad.

Following the executions, Broulard tells Mireau that he will be investigated for shelling his own men. Mireau denounces this as a betrayal by his commanding officer. Broulard offers Mireau's vacant command to Dax, assuming Dax's attempts to stop the executions were a ploy to gain Mireau's job. Disgusted at Broulard's assumption, Dax lashes out at him. Discovering Dax was sincere, Broulard rebukes him for his idealism, and Dax in turn denounces Broulard's nihilism.

Shortly afterwards, Dax notices some of his soldiers carousing loudly at an inn and jeering at a captive German girl, but they grow more subdued as she sings a sentimental German folk song, " The Faithful Hussar ". Dax is informed by Boulanger that they have new orders to return to the trenches immediately, but Dax instead allows the men to stay in the bar for a while longer before returning to his office.