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Paul Bäumer, the narrator, and his fellow German soldiers of the
Second Company recuperate behind the front in World War I. The last day
of fighting thinned their ranks from 150 men to 80. Paul describes
three 19-year-old boys from his class who also volunteered for the war:
Albert Kropp, the "clearest thinker" among them; Müller, a
physics-inclined academic; and Leer, sexually mature. Their friends
include Tjaden, a 19-year-old locksmith; Haie Westhus, a large
peat-digger, also 19; Detering, a married peasant; and Stanislaus
Katczinsky ("Kat"), their wise 40-year-old leader.
The boys discuss Kantorek, their former schoolmaster, who used to
bully his pupils into volunteering for the war. The boys feel betrayed
by Kantorek and their other elders. The boys visit Kemmerich, a wounded
soldier. Paul and the others see that Kemmerich, who is unaware that
his leg has been amputated, will die here. The boys all want
Kemmerich's expensive boots. Paul describes how the twenty boys from
his class patriotically enlisted in the war. In training, the
disciplinarian Corporal Himmelstoss immediately disliked and punished
Paul and some of his friends, recognizing some defiance in them. Paul
sits with Kemmerich, who tells Paul to give Müller his boots. He dies,
and Paul runs home and gives Müller the boots.
Twenty-five younger men arrive as reinforcements. Paul believes Kat
is the most resourceful soldier he knows, always able to scrounge up
food. The men learn Himmelstoss is coming up to the front. Tjaden
especially hates the Corporal because of his cruel punishment for
Tjaden's bed-wetting problem. For vengeance, Paul and his friends
ambushed and beat Himmelstoss before they left for the front.
The soldiers are sent to put up barbed wire at the front. At night,
during an artillery bombardment, the soldier dive for cover. The men
set up the wire. Soon the artillery attacks them. Several men are hit,
as well as horses. The shells tear up the graveyard they are in,
uprooting coffins. Gas shells are deployed, and the men scramble to put
on their masks. After another bombardment, more men die and are
wounded. Still, the losses are fewer than expected, and the soldiers
climb into the trucks and ride home.
The men are preoccupied with the arrival of Himmelstoss, who was
removed from his training post for his barbaric tactics and forced to
go to the front. Himmelstoss shows up, and soon he and Tjaden insult
each other. The men realize that out of their class of twenty, seven
are dead, four are wounded, and one is insane. They reminisce about
Kantorek. Kropp points out that the young soldiers who did not have
jobs before will have difficulty getting used to a new one after having
fought in the war. Tjaden is put on trial in the evening. The
lieutenant lectures Himmelstoss for his inappropriate behavior in
training, and metes out open arrest for Tjaden and Kropp (for insulting
Himmelstoss earlier). The men visit Tjaden and Kropp at night. Later,
Kat and Paul steal a goose. When they cook it together, Paul reflects
how intimate he and Kat have become.
Rumors of an offensive recall the soldiers to the front. Rats invade
the worn-down trenches and assault the men's bread. Days pass with no
major attacks. Finally, the enemy launches an artillery bombardment one
night and continues through to the next day, but no full attack
commences. No one can get through the bombardment to bring back food.
Several recruits throw insane fits. Finally, the bombardment stops and
the attack begins. Paul stares into the eyes of a Frenchman on the
ground and eventually throws a grenade at him. The Germans reach the
enemy line and repel the French. More casualties pile up in the coming
days; the men cannot always retrieve their wounded comrades in
no-man's-land, and they die out there. The shelling renews its
strength. New recruits are brought in, but they die at high rates from
foolish mistakes. Haie is wounded in the back. In the end, the battle
is a success for the Germans, who have yielded just a few hundred yards
to the French. The men ride away and regroup. Second Company has
thirty-two men left.
The men are given some time to rest. Himmelstoss wants to make
amends with the boys, and Paul is willing to forgive him, since
Himmelstoss helped Haie when he was hit in the back. One night while
swimming nude, the men see three French women across the bank of the
canal. They make plans to meet the women at their house at night when
there are no guards. At night, with some food and gifts stowed in their
boots, the boys swim across the canal. A small brunette takes a liking
to Paul, though he leaves in an unhappy mood.
Paul receives seventeen days' leave, after which he is to report to
a training camp away from the front for four more weeks. As Paul buys
the men drinks at the canteen, he wonders if he will see them all
again--Haie has died by now, too. Paul takes the train to his home. His
mother lies in bed, sick with cancer. Paul feels uncomfortable at home
and with others, feeling they do not understand him. He spends most of
his time alone. A former classmate of Paul's in nearby barracks tells
him that Kantorek has been called into the war in a low rank. His
friend torments Kantorek in military exercises, much to Paul's
amusement. Paul sees Kemmerich's mother and lies that Kemmerich died
immediately. On Paul's last night, his mother gives him advice about
how to handle the war.
Paul has previously been to the camp on the moors for training, but
he hardly knows anyone there now. A Russian prison camp is adjacent to
theirs, and Paul studies the enemy prisoners as they scavenge for food.
He is kind to them and observes a funeral they hold. One Russian who
speaks some German plays violin for Paul and the other prisoners.
Before Paul leaves for the front, he learns his mother is in the
hospital, and she will soon undergo an operation for cancer.
Paul returns to his company, where the men prepare for the arrival
of the Kaiser, who turns out to be less intimidating than Paul had
imagined. After, the men discuss nationalism; Kropp wonders if both
sides can possibly be "in the right," and Tjaden is curious as to how a
war gets started and what its purpose is. The company returns to the
devastated front. Paul volunteers to go on a patrol to find out how
strong the enemy is. He later gets lost and must crawl into a muddy
hole. A man falls into the hole, and Paul stabs the body. The man
convulses and, by the morning, is still barely alive. Paul tends to the
man's wounds. This is the first time Paul has killed a man in
hand-to-hand combat. Finally, the man dies. Paul apologizes to the dead
man and asks for forgiveness. At night, Paul crawls toward his trench.
Paul and his friends guard an abandoned village and watch over a
supply dump. They make the most of the village's possessions,
decorating and stocking with food the concrete cellar in which they
shelter. The men happily spend nearly two weeks there, relaxing as the
shells continue to destroy the village; all the soldiers need to
protect is the supply dump. The men are sent to help evacuate a
village. On their way in, they pass by the fleeing inhabitants. Shells
soon drop and knock down Paul and Kropp; Kropp is hit in the knee. They
are brought to a dressing station. Kropp says that if his leg is
amputated, he will commit suicide. Later, a surgeon removes a piece of
shell from Paul's leg. Paul bribes the army medical sergeant-major to
keep him and Kropp together. Paul and Kropp share a room in a Catholic
Hospital. Paul bonds with the other patients, though many are taken to
die in the "Dying Room," and others are operated on unnecessarily for
surgery that ends up crippling them. Kropp's leg is amputated at the
thigh, and he becomes sullen and suicidal. After a few weeks, Paul is
able to move his leg again. Kropp's stump has healed, though he is even
more solemn than before. Paul goes on convalescent leave, and his
mother, sicker than before, does not want to let him go again. Paul is
recalled to his regiment.
By spring, the men remain hardened and closed off, but occasionally
their true desires burst free, as when Detering deserts the company. He
is caught by the military police, and no one hears anymore from him.
Müller is killed, and Paul gets Kemmerich's boots. During an attack,
the company's commander and Leer die. The summer of 1918 further
devastates the Germans, who are on the brink of losing the war. There
are rumors of an armistice. Kat is heavily wounded in the leg one day,
and Paul carries him back to the dressing station, though he dies on
the way--part of the shell hit his head, as well.
By autumn, only six others besides Paul from his class are left.
They hope for an armistice to bring peace. Paul is unsure if he has
fully subdued all the life within him, but feels it will "seek its own
way out" somehow. In third-person narration, we learn that Paul died in
October, 1918, on a day otherwise so calm that the army report merely
stated "All quiet on the Western Front." Paul's face seemed calm, "as
though almost glad the end had come."
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