Paths of Glory ending explained

What happens

The three condemned men are shot at dawn. Broulard then offers Dax Mireau's command, assuming his protests were ambition, and Dax, disgusted, tells him otherwise. The generals never see what they have done.

The last image

Dax watches the soldiers hum along with the German girl's song, some in tears, before he is told the regiment must return to the front.

What it says

The ending is clear. The film drops argument for feeling: the song shows ordinary men can still be moved, even though the system has lost its compassion. Nothing is undone, and the war simply goes on.