Paths of Glory

The matter-of-fact delivery makes it. I haven't been this angry from reading a novel maybe ever.

French soldiers make a futile and useless attack on a German Army position on the Western Front. The attack is a failure and someone must take the blame. A court-martial takes place which ensures the Generals are protected and the French poilu is punished.

Set during World War I--3 french soldiers are condemned to death so as to punish a regiment for failure to capture its objective--an opposing piece of trench line. They are chosen one each from 3 different companies--one of the men is a decorated veteran who is picked to cover up his platoon commander's cowardice. It is very well written and I believe was Cobb's only book. It was later made into a movie directed by Stanley Kubrick with Kirk Douglas as the main star.

One of the greatest novels of World War I, with Eric Marie Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, this was also the basis of perhaps Kubrick's greatest film.