Summary
The Second Company returns to the front two days early.
On their way, they pass a schoolhouse that has been shattered by
shells. Fresh coffins are piled by the dozens already lying next
to the schoolhouse. The soldiers make jokes to distance themselves
from the unpleasant knowledge that the coffins have been made for
them. At the front, they listen to the enemy transports
and guns. They detect that the enemy is bringing troops to the front,
and they can hear that the English have strengthened their artillery.
The men are disheartened by this knowledge as well as by the fact
that their own shells are beginning to fall in their trenches—the
barrels on the guns are worn out.
The soldiers can do nothing but wait. Chance determines whether
things will take a turn for the better or for the worse. Paul relates
that he once left a dugout to visit friends in a different dugout.
When he returned to the first, it had been completely demolished
by a direct hit. He returned to the second only to discover that it
had been buried.
The soldiers have to fight the fat, aggressive rats to
protect their food. Large rations of cheese and rum are doled out
to the men, and every man receives numerous grenades and ample ammunition.
The men remove saw blades from their bayonets because the enemy instantly
kills anyone caught with this kind of blade on his bayonet. Kat
is in bad spirits, which Paul takes as a bad sign, since Kat has
an uncanny sense for knowing what will happen on the front.
Days pass before the bombs begin to fall. No attack comes
right away, but the bombing continues. Attempts to deliver food
to the dugouts fail. Even Kat fails to scrounge anything up. The
men settle down to wait. Eventually, a new recruit cracks and attempts
to leave. Kat and Paul have to beat him into submission. Later,
the dugout suffers a direct hit. Luckily, the shell is a light one,
and the concrete holds up against it. Three recruits crack, and
one actually escapes the dugout. Before Paul can retrieve him, a
shell whistles through the air and smashes the escaped recruit to
bits. They have to bind another recruit to subdue him. Everyone
else tries to play cards, but no one can concentrate on the game.
Finally, the shelling lessens. The attack has come. Paul
and his comrades throw grenades out of the dugout before jumping
out. The French attackers suffer heavy losses from the German machine guns
and grenades. The soldiers kill with a mindless fury after days of
waiting helplessly in the dark while the bombs fell above them. The
Germans repel the attack and reach the enemy lines. They wreak havoc
and destruction before grabbing all of the provisions they can carry.
They run back to their position to rest for an hour. They devour
the tins of food they have gathered, noting that the enemy has far
better provisions than they do.
Later, Paul stands watch. Memories of the past come to
him. The calm and quiet memories bring sorrow rather than desire.
He muses that desires “belong to another world that is gone from
us.” He is sure that his youth is lost and that he has become permanently
numb and indifferent.
