Or something to that effect. I'd appreciate if someone who knows which general it was that did that and a source on it? I know it was mentioned here but didn't copy the citation but it's a good example of what I'm looking for. Please cite it for me if you know where it's from.
Also another example is someone said that when an opposing general's soldier told him that Napoleon was in his sights and asked permission to take a shot he denied permission. He responded something along the lines of "Napoleon and I have better things to do than shoot at each other.". If someone can cite this be my guess, but it's still another good example of what I mean and I know it was posted here in a comment in response to a post, they both were.
The reasoning was like: it's "unfair" to target officers. And a low class soldier "has no right to take the life of aristocracy". So I'd love examples of this kind of action where in the name of "honour" and "bravery" officers gave needlessly dangerous orders.
I thought very long and very hard on how to extend this post and give you something really in depth but it's hard to when it's really this simple:
That never happened. At all. Ever.
These are all just popular myths to play off another popular myth of the "honorability" of past wars, usually done in a pejorative manner in some narrative where the lower class was abused by the upper class or something to that effect. That's not to say the belief itself is flawed but the examples you are bringing up that are commonly presented in defense of it are total, absolute, and complete nonsense.
No one was told in the First World War not to duck because it was "cowardly"; no one was ever given that order ever. Were men ordered to advance at walking pace? Yes because they were covering hundreds upon hundreds of meters with a couple dozen kilograms on their body across uneven, muddy, shell laden terrain; to sprint across it all would be mindnumbingly stupid. When they actually got close to the enemy weapons though they spread and ducked and dived and sprinted just like anything else.
That quote is supposedly from Wellington and the only source we have of it happening is from the 1970 film rendition Waterloo; as in it has absolutely zero factual backing as far as my reading goes. Every time I have ever come across this supposed event it is always the equivalent of "I heard from a friend of a friend of a friend" situation. Like Wellington didn't write on this, nor did the supposed artillery officer who brought to this to him...so where did it come from then?