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Executions in No-Man's Land and 'Paths of Glory'

posted 15 years ago by 4ize
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Does anyone know if the French army in World War I actually executed court martialed soldiers by the method shown in the movie?
In Stanley Kubrick's 1957 film Paths of Glory, the French high command ordered a regimental commander (Kirk Douglas) to choose three soldiers by lot to be shot for the regiment's failure.
Both methods are odd ways to carry out "justice" but at least the soldiers in No-Man's Land had the chance to die facing the enemy.

[–] nicver 15 years ago

From what I've heard from veterans (all expired since) they would indeed throw off the trench guys who would really piss off an entire regiment, mostly thieves.

There were executions in 17, as this was the year where the war worsened and dissent was at the highest, and indeed they were executed by a fire squad.

In 18 was a conjunction of the arrival of the Americans, which boosted morale, the arrival of the tanks on the Allied side, and the fact that the Germans were simply running out of men to send, which meant an end soon.

This movie is based on a book, it's just a story :)