Let us recognise and pardon, those brave shell shocked soldiers

They were mostly young, rank-and-file soldiers, exhausted and shell-shocked after months of what was considered the world's must brutal war. One day they simply refused to take part in another raid that involved running out over the top of their trench, ignored orders or refused to get in line for inspection.

Shot by firing squad, often as an example in front of their fellow soldiers, these disgraced, so-called cowards – convicted by military tribunals of crimes such as desertion, disobedience or "abandoning their post in the presence of the enemy" – are now largely seen as traumatised victims of the horror of war. But they are not counted in the first world war memorials dotting France, nor are they considered to have died for their country.

The Socialist president François Hollande, who has promised that next year's first world war centenary commemorations will be one of the "great events" of his leadership, is under increasing pressure to restore the good name of hundreds of French soldiers executed by their own army during the war. But the rehabilitation of soldiers shot by firing squad remains one of the most sensitive and controversial memorial issues surrounding the 1914 Great War in France. A report handed to the ministry of veterans' affairs on Tuesday presents a number of options to Hollande, warning of the difficulty of either doing nothing or issuing a blanket pardon to everyone who was shot.
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