Souain corporals affair

The executions, which occurred in the vicinity of Souain on 17 March 1915, are considered to be the most egregious and most publicized military injustice during World War I in France.

In March 1915, units of the French Army holding a section of the Western Front through Champagne had seen no tangible results despite two months of fighting.

A bayonet assault would begin at 5 am on March 10 against a stretch of enemy trenches that was heavily defended by machine guns and barbed wire.

The remaining soldiers of 21st Company, who were both exhausted after days of front line duty (in 1915, French Army troop rotation was much slower than later in the war) and demoralized by failure, refused to leave their trenches.

The divisions's commanding artillery officer, Colonel Raoul Berube, refused to obey without a written order, but Réveilhac did not issue one.

Its company commander, Captain Equilbey, was ordered to produce a list of names that included six corporals and 18 enlisted men chosen from the two youngest members in every squad.

The trial was based on the interpretation of the French Army's Code of Military Regulations, which was implemented on September 6, 1914: ...la discipline faisant la force principale des armées, il importe que tout supérieur obtienne de ses subordonnés une obéissance entière et une soumission de tous les instants.

General Réveilhac opened the case by stating it was about his troops' "refusal to leap out of the trenches," but Corporal Théophile Maupas, one of the defendants, refuted the claim: "anyone there had the choice of being killed by the shells from our side or by the fire of the German machine gunners."

However, the 18 enlisted men received a stay of execution on the grounds that they were arbitrarily chosen from the ranks, and two corporals, named Gosselin and Lorin, were shown clemency because they had not heard the order to attack.

Only four corporals, three from Manche and the fourth from Brittany, did not have their death sentences commuted: In early afternoon, the next day, the four men were executed by firing squad in front of the 336th Infantry Regiment.