Géraud Réveilhac

He gained infamy for the Souain corporals affair in 1915 when four non-commissioned officers were executed as an example to other troops he commanded who had refused to attack a heavily-defended position on the Western Front.

Born on 16 February 1851 in Aurillac, France, Réveilhac went on to graduate from the Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr in August 1870, as a sub-lieutenant.

After the assault's failure, Réveilhac quickly ordered that 24 men from the infantry units involved should be tried by a war tribunal.

Réveilhac wrote a letter defending his actions, but it was censored by Minister of War Louis Barthou who believed publishing it would only increase the considerable notoriety of the affair.

[3] The widow of Théophile Maupas, one of the corporals executed, fought to restore her husband's reputation, and was successful after nineteen years.

[3] Humphrey Cobb's 1935 novel Paths of Glory and Stanley Kubrick's 1957 film with the same title are partly based on these events.