Les Sentiers de la gloire

In 1916 during WWI General Mireau orders Colonel Dax and his exhausted men to destroy an impregnable German position called 'The Ant Hill.' The soldiers fail in the suicidal assault so to deflect blame from the general several French soldiers are picked at random, branded cowards and court-martialed. Colonel Dax defends three of his soldiers in the court-martial after they abandon the attack and for the example they will be punished and executed.