Editing Execution by firing squad (section)

===France===
[[File:El Tres de Mayo, by Francisco de Goya, from Prado thin black margin.jpg|thumb|right|Execution of [[Dos de Mayo Uprising|the Madrid rebels]] by a French firing squad on ''[[the Third of May 1808]]'', as painted by [[Francisco Goya]]]]
{{Main|Capital punishment in France}}
[[File:Execution lors de la Première Guerre mondiale.jpg|thumb|right|Execution at [[Verdun]] at the time of the [[French Army Mutinies]] of 1917]]
Pte. [[Thomas Highgate]] was the first British soldier to be convicted of desertion and executed by firing squad in September 1914 at [[Tournan-en-Brie]] during World War I. In October 1916 Pte. [[Harry Farr]] was shot for cowardice at [[Carnoy]], which was later suspected to be [[acoustic shock]]. Highgate and Farr, along with 304 other British and [[British Empire|Imperial]] troops who were executed for similar offenses, were listed at the [[Shot at Dawn Memorial]] which was erected to honor them.<ref name="shot">[http://www.shotatdawncampaignirl.org/ The Shot at Dawn Campaign] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080827160111/http://www.shotatdawncampaignirl.org/ |date=2008-08-27 }} The New Zealand government [[pardon]]ed its troops in 2000; the British government in 1998 expressed sympathy for the executed and in 2006 the [[Secretary of State for Defence]] announced a full pardon for all 306 executed soldiers from the First World War.</ref><ref name="telegraph">[https://web.archive.org/web/20061221040620/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/08/16/npardon16.xml The Daily Telegraph], Ben Fenton, August 16, 2006, accessed October 14, 2006</ref>

On 15 October 1917 Dutch [[exotic dancer]] [[Mata Hari]] was executed by a French firing squad at [[Château de Vincennes]] castle in the town of [[Vincennes]] after being convicted of spying for Germany during World War I.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mata-hari-is-executed|title=Mata Hari is executed –Oct 15, 1917 |website=History.com|access-date=23 November 2017}}</ref>

During World War II, on 24 September 1944, Josef Wende and Stephan Kortas, two Poles drafted into the German army, crossed the [[Moselle (river)|Moselle Rivers]] behind U.S. lines in civilian clothes to observe [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] strength and were to rejoin their own army on the same day. However, they were discovered by the Americans and arrested. On 18 October 1944 they were found guilty of espionage by a U.S. [[military justice|military commission]] and sentenced to death.<ref>{{cite book |title=Hitler's Spies: German Military Intelligence In World War II |author=David Kahn |date=2000 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |page=363 |isbn=0306809494}}</ref> On 11 November 1944 they were shot in the garden of a farmhouse at [[Toul]]. The footage of Wende's execution<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675065399_German-Execution_Graham-execution_military-policemen_a-clergyman-offer-prayers|title=HD Stock Video Footage – German spy Josef Wende is executed by U.S. Military Police firing squad in Toul, France, during World War II|website=Criticalpast.com|access-date=23 November 2017}}</ref> as well as Kortas's<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675065400_Graham-Execution_Military-policemen_clergyman_hands-and-legs-of-spy-tied_execution-of-spy|title=HD Stock Video Footage – German spy Stephan Kortas is executed by Military Policemen and is carried away covered in white sheet in Toul France.|website=Criticalpast.com|access-date=23 November 2017}}</ref> is shown in these links.<ref>{{cite book |title=Hitler's Spies: German Military Intelligence In World War II |author=David Kahn |date= 2000 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]]|pages=504–505 |isbn=0306809494}}</ref>

On 31 January 1945, U.S. Army Pvt. [[Eddie Slovik|Edward "Eddie" Slovik]] was executed by firing squad for desertion near the village of [[Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines]]. He was the first American soldier executed for such offense since the [[American Civil War]].

On 15 October 1945 [[Pierre Laval]], the puppet leader of Nazi-occupied [[Vichy France]], was executed for treason at [[Fresnes Prison]] in Paris.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/vichy-leader-executed-for-treason|title=Vichy leader executed for treason – Oct 15, 1945|website=History.com|date=9 February 2010 |access-date=23 November 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWlaval.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130903065256/http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWlaval.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 September 2013|title=Pierre Laval : Biography|date=3 September 2013|access-date=23 November 2017}}</ref>

On 11 March 1963 [[Jean Bastien-Thiry]] was the last person to be executed by firing squad for a failed attempt to assassinate French president [[Charles de Gaulle]].<ref>[[:fr:Attentat du Petit-Clamart#Interpellations, jugements et verdicts|Judicial follow up of the assassination attempt of Petit-Clamart]]</ref>{{Circular reference|date=May 2019}}