January 12th, 2024
I read the first two chapters and it’s a very good book so far. I’m going to struggle remembering the German names though. Paul Baumer is the narrator. The book starts with him and his friends returning to the rear after being on the front. They are happy because there are rations for 150 men of the company, though only 80 of them returned. Everyone gets a little extra, demands a little extra. Paul then jumps around to how he and his friends were convinced by their teacher to sign-up for the war. One boy hesitated, but didn’t want to appear to be a coward. He was the first to die. Paul jumps to training camp and how they were abused and nearly killed; one of his classmates did die. Then it seems to come back to the present, and Paul and his friends go to visit one of their classmates in the infirmity. He has lost a leg and it is obvious to them that he will die. One of them, Mueller, asks him for his boots, since he will be “going home”. The boy refuses, and the group wishes him well. Outside, they mourn that he will die, but also mourn that some random orderly will get his things. Later, Paul goes back to watch him die. It seems the boy had realized he won’t make it, and Paul remembers how his mother begged Paul to watch over her son. Now he thinks about the letter he will have to write her. The boy dies with tears streaming down his face and Paul gathers his things. The body is quickly removed, as the bed is needed for others.
January 13th, 2024
Kemmermich was the guy who died in the hospital. The main cast seems to be Paul, Katczinsky, Tjaden, and Kropp. There are others mentioned, like Mueller. I think they’re Paul’s classmates, except Kat. He’s an older man who has been in the war longer and seems to know a lot. He always finds a way to get food or bedding. I think the third chapter is more character building. There’s new recruits, 2 years younger than Paul, and this makes them feel like old veterans. In the next chapter, they are sent to the front for barbed wire duty. Now that they’re upfront, things get serious. Kat believes there’s going to be a bombardment. They gather their things and start working when Kat is proven right. They hit the deck and Paul tries to help a recruit who has lost his helmet. The kid shit his pants and Paul tells him that’s normal for new guys and to toss his drawers in the bushes. Nearby got hit hard and now all they can hear is dying and screaming horses, which they find worse than men. Then they start walking back to the trucks. Kat seems off and another bombardment happens, this time right on top of them. They take cover in a graveyard, but trees blow up and send shards all over. They try to hide in a shell hole, since the odds of it hitting two places twice is low. Then they hear gas and put on their masks. The gas sinks into the holes and each man waits for death if his mask is on wrong. The bombardment begins again and one guy in the hole gets his arm smashed when a coffin lands on it. They make a splint from coffin wood and bandages and soon the ordeal is over. They see a guy without his mask and follow his lead. Walking, Paul and Kat find a wounded guy, his thigh a complete mess at the joint. They try to patch him up and Paul realizes it’s the recruit from earlier. They consider shooting him, since he will probably die in the hospital in agony, but people come with stretchers. Everyone is then driven back in the rain.
January 16th, 2024
For the first half of the book, Paul and the guys are mostly behind the front. It sort of lulls you into a fall sense of comfort as the soldiers try to keep themselves occupied. There was the stint with barbed wire bombardment, but that was the real “action”. In spite of this, there is still a general sense of unease as Paul deals with his thoughts and describes things that happened in the past. The boys lament the fact that there is nothing for them back home; they have no wives, kids, or jobs. There is no way they can just go back to school and pretend to be normal after this. Their youth is destroyed. No one knows what they will do after the war, if there is an after for them. Then their old training camp commander Himmelstoss comes to front, kicked out for going too far, and Tjaden and Kropp can’t wait to give it to him. They both get an easy jail sentence, “open” prison, for insubordination. Then, they get sent back to the front. It’s dangerous, but the psychological horror is nearly as dangerous. They are under bombardment for days with no signs of an attack. Many recruits don’t know how to find cover or can’t handle being underground for so long. Food runs short. Gas attacks leave newbies dead. Then the attack comes and it turns out to be French. Machine guns and hand grenades leave the attack force limited by the time they reach the defenses. The counterattack regains the front trench. Paul finds Himmelstoss cowering and forces him out to fight. I think one of the gang, Haie or something, gets injured, but no deaths are reported. After what may be a couple weeks of this, they are sent back to the reserves. From maybe 150 men, 32 return.
January 25th, 2024
Life has kept me very busy, but I did finish this book. It’s very good. I won’t give an in-depth overview. Westhus seems to be the only “main”character to die in action until the end. Most of this book does not talk about the action of fighting on the front, and when it does it is sort of vague and not specific. I assume that is on purpose, as the action is the same to the soldier whether it is a major battle or not and regardless of location. Most of the interesting parts of the book occur outside the front, when Paul has time to think. One of the main parts of the book is when Paul gets leave to go home. It’s a terrible experience for him as he can no longer relate to anyone or anything back home. He misses his friends at the front terribly. His dad tries to talk to him about the war but has no understanding of it and an old teacher has the audacity to tell Paul he does not know enough to talk about strategy. Kantorek, the professor who inspired them to join, ended up drafted and one of Paul’s classmates enjoys messing with him as the superior officer. The only real connections Paul has is with his mother, who is likely dying from cancer, and the Russian POWs. His mother just saddens him, but it seems the love is still real. The Russians he relates to more than any of the townspeople and talks to the ones who know German, sometimes gives them cigarettes. He knows they are peasants and have as little interest in the war as he and his friends do. Then Paul is back in action and waits for his friends to return to the front. They then get good duty of guarding a depot as the town gets shelled. They live like kings for a few days while supplies are evacuated or destroyed. On the way back, the civilian train is shelled and Paul and Krupp are wounded. Krupp will lose his leg and contemplates suicide, while Paul, in better shape, bribes several people to stay by Krupp’s side on the wounded train. They end up in a Catholic hospital, which is decent. Some guys get wheeled away to the “dying room”, and its a hard thing to read. Krupp does lose his leg here while Paul recovers and must leave him. Then it’s all downhill from him. As the war comes towards the end, Paul’s friends begin to die. Mueller is killed and Paul gets Kettermich’s boots. Detering goes AWOL and is caught, but is never seen again. I think Tjaden survives. Kat gets a his shin destroyed and Paul carries him for what seems a very long time to a clinic. Unfortunately, along the way Kat got a splinter in the back of the head and is dead. Losing his best friend, Paul is just a shell of himself. In October 1918, he is killed on a day that is “all quiet on the Western Front”. He is said to look peaceful. Great book and it really saddens you to know that millions of people really went through this. Men and boys sent to the slaughter, many dying due to lack of training or just the general unwillingness to give up the war. People to this day still have pro-war attitudes. Fight it yourself, then.