“Paths of Glory” is a story about soldiers in World War I. General George Broulard (Adolphe Menjou) orders General Mireau (George Macready) to send his division on an attack mission. His troops are sent on the impossible suicide mission to take a hill that is heavily defended. At first, Mireau refuses, but with the possibility of promotion in his future, he agrees to it. He tells the plans of the attack to Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas), who protests, but to no avail. The attack proceeds as planned but fails terribly. Many of the men refuse to leave the trench and the ones who do never reach the German trenches. Mireau decides to blame the soldiers for the failure of the attack and plans to execute many of them to set an example. The men chosen are Private Ferol (Timothy Carey), Corporal Paris (Ralph Meeker) and Private Arnaud (Joe Turkel). The only person that could save them from death is Colonel Dax, who must try to defend the men when they are court-martialed for cowardice.