Remarque on the Western Front summary. “All Quiet on the Western Front,” an artistic analysis of Remarque’s novel

“All Quiet on the Western Front” is a book about all the horrors and hardships of the First World War. About how the Germans fought. About all the senselessness and mercilessness of war.

Remarque, as always, describes everything beautifully and masterfully. This even makes my soul somehow sad. Moreover, the unexpected ending of the book “All Quiet on the Western Front” is not at all pleasing.

The book is written in simple, understandable language and is very easy to read. Like “Front,” I read it in two evenings. But this time it’s evenings on the train :) “All Quiet on the Western Front” will not be difficult for you to download. I also read the book electronically.

The history of the creation of Remarque’s book “All Quiet on the Western Front”

The writer offered his manuscript “All Quiet on the Western Front” to the most authoritative and famous publisher in the Weimar Republic, Samuel Fischer. Fisher confirmed the high literary quality of the text, but refused publication on the grounds that in 1928 no one would want to read a book about the First World War. Fischer later admitted that this was one of the most significant mistakes of his career.
Following the advice of his friend, Remarque brought the text of the novel to the publishing house Haus Ullstein, where, by order of the company's management, it was accepted for publication. On August 29, 1928, a contract was signed. But the publisher was also not entirely sure that such a specific novel about the First World War would be a success. The contract contained a clause according to which, if the novel was not successful, the author must work off the costs of publication as a journalist. To be on the safe side, the publishing house provided advance copies of the novel to various categories of readers, including veterans of the First World War. As a result of critical comments from readers and literary scholars, Remarque is urged to rework the text, especially some particularly critical statements about the war. A copy of the manuscript that was in the New Yorker speaks about the serious adjustments to the novel made by the author. For example, the latest edition lacks the following text:

We killed people and made war; we cannot forget about this, because we are at an age when thoughts and actions had the strongest connection with each other. We are not hypocrites, we are not timid, we are not burghers, we keep our eyes open and do not close our eyes. We don’t justify anything by necessity, idea, Motherland - we fought people and killed them, people we didn’t know and who did nothing to us; what will happen when we return to our previous relationships and confront people who interfere with us?<…>What should we do with the goals that are offered to us? Only memories and my vacation days convinced me that the dual, artificial, invented order called “society” cannot calm us down and will not give us anything. We will remain isolated and we will grow, we will try; some will be quiet, while others will not want to part with their weapons.

Original text (German)

Wir haben Menschen getötet und Krieg geführt; Das ist für uns nicht zu vergessen, denn wir sind in dem Alter, wo Gedanke und Tat wohl die stärkste Beziehung zueinander haben. Wir sind nicht verlogen, nicht ängstlich, nicht bürgerglich, wir sehen mit beiden Augen und schließen sie nicht. Wir entschuldigen nichts mit Notwendigkeit, mit Ideen, mit Staatsgründen, wir haben Menschen bekämpft und getötet, die wir nicht kannten, die uns nichts taten; was wird geschehen, wenn wir zurückkommen in frühere Verhältnisse und Menschen gegenüberstehen, die uns hemmen, hinder und stützen wollen?<…>Was wollen wir mit diesen Zielen anfangen, die man uns bietet? Nur die Erinnerung und meine Urlaubstage haben mich schon überzeugt, daß die halbe, geflickte, künstliche Ordnung, die man Gesellschaft nennt, uns nicht beschwichtigen und umgreifen kann. Wir werden isoliert bleiben und aufwachsen, wir werden uns Mühe geben, manche werden still werden und manche die Waffen nicht weglegen wollen.

Translation by Mikhail Matveev

Finally, in the fall of 1928, the final version of the manuscript appeared. On November 8, 1928, on the eve of the tenth anniversary of the armistice, the Berlin newspaper Vossische Zeitung, part of the Haus Ullstein concern, published a “preliminary text” of the novel. The author of “All Quiet on the Western Front” appears to the reader as an ordinary soldier, without any literary experience, who describes his experiences of the war in order to “speak out” and free himself from mental trauma. The introduction to the publication was as follows:

The Vossische Zeitung feels "obliged" to open this "authentic", free and thus "genuine" documentary account of the war.

Original text (German)

Die Vossische Zeitung fühle sich „verpflichtet“, diesen „authentischen“, tendenzlosen und damit „wahren“ dokumentarischen über den Krieg zu veröffentlichen.

Translation by Mikhail Matveev
This is how the legend about the origin of the novel’s text and its author arose. On November 10, 1928, excerpts of the novel began to be published in the newspaper. The success exceeded the wildest expectations of the Haus Ullstein concern - the newspaper's circulation increased several times, the editor received a huge number of letters from readers admiring such an “unvarnished portrayal of the war.”
At the time of the book's release on January 29, 1929, there were approximately 30,000 pre-orders, which forced the concern to print the novel in several printing houses at once. All Quiet on the Western Front became Germany's best-selling book of all time. As of May 7, 1929, 500 thousand copies of the book had been published. The book version of the novel was published in 1929, after which it was translated into 26 languages, including Russian, in the same year. The most famous translation into Russian is by Yuri Afonkin.

Several quotes from Erich Maria Remarque’s book “All Quiet on the Western Front”

About the Lost Generation:

We are no longer young people. We are no longer going to take life by battle. We are fugitives. We are running from ourselves. From your life. We were eighteen years old, and we were just beginning to love the world and life; we had to shoot at them. The first shell that exploded hit our heart. We are cut off from rational activity, from human aspirations, from progress. We don't believe in them anymore. We believe in war.

At the front, chance or luck plays a decisive role:

The front is a cage, and the one who is trapped in it has to strain his nerves and wait for what will happen to him next. We are sitting behind bars, the bars of which are the trajectories of projectiles; we live in tense anticipation of the unknown. We are at the mercy of chance. When a shell flies at me, I can duck, and that's all; I cannot know where it will hit, and I cannot influence it in any way.
It is this dependence on chance that makes us so indifferent. A few months ago I was sitting in the dugout playing skat; after a while I got up and went to visit my friends in another dugout. When I returned, almost nothing was left of the first dugout: a heavy shell smashed it to pieces. I went to the second one again and arrived just in time to help dig it out - by this time it had already been covered.
They can kill me - it's a matter of chance. But the fact that I remain alive is again a matter of chance. I can die in a securely fortified dugout, crushed by its walls, and I can remain unharmed after lying for ten hours in an open field under heavy fire. Each soldier remains alive only thanks to a thousand different cases. And every soldier believes in chance and relies on it.

What war really is seen in the infirmary:

It seems incomprehensible that human faces, still living ordinary, everyday lives, are attached to these tattered bodies. But this is only one infirmary, only one department! There are hundreds of thousands of them in Germany, hundreds of thousands in France, hundreds of thousands in Russia. How meaningless is everything that is written, done and thought about by people, if such things are possible in the world! To what extent is our thousand-year-old civilization deceitful and worthless if it could not even prevent these flows of blood, if it allowed hundreds of thousands of such dungeons to exist in the world. Only in the infirmary do you see with your own eyes what war is.

Reviews of the book “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Remarque

This is a difficult story about a lost generation of very young twenty-year-old teenagers who found themselves in the terrible circumstances of a world war and were forced to become adults.
These are terrible images of the consequences. A man who runs without his feet because they were torn off. Or young people killed by a gas attack, who died only because they did not have time to put on protective masks, or because they wore poor-quality ones. A man holding his own entrails and stumbling into the infirmary.
The image of a mother who lost her nineteen-year-old son. Families living in poverty. Images of captured Russians and much more.

Even if everything goes well and someone survives, will these guys be able to lead a normal life, learn a profession, start a family?
Who needs this war and why?

The narration is told in a very easy and accessible language, in the first person, from the perspective of a young hero who goes to the front, we see the war through his eyes.

The book is read “in one breath.”
This is not Remarque’s most powerful work, in my opinion, but I think it’s worth reading.

Thank you for your attention!

Review: The book “All Quiet on the Western Front” - Erich Maria Remarque - What is war from the point of view of a soldier?

Advantages:
Style and language; sincerity; depth; psychologism

Flaws:
The book is not an easy one to read; there are some ugly moments

The book “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Remarque is one of those that is very important, but which is very difficult to discuss. The fact is that this book is about war, and that is always difficult. It’s hard for those who fought to talk about war. And for those who did not fight, it seems to me that it is generally difficult to fully understand this period, perhaps even impossible. The novel itself is not very long; it describes a soldier’s view of battles and a relatively peaceful existence during this period. The story is told from the perspective of a young man, 19-20 years old, Paul. I understand that the novel is at least partly autobiographical, because the real name of Erich Maria Remarque is Erich Paul Remarque. In addition, the author himself fought at the age of 19, and Paul in the novel, like the author, is passionate about reading and tries to write something himself. And, of course, most likely most of the emotions and reflections in this book were felt and thought through by Remarque while at the front, it cannot be otherwise.

I have already read some of Remarque's other works, and I really like this author's storytelling style. He manages to show the depth of the characters' emotions in a fairly clear and simple language, and it is quite easy for me to empathize with them and delve into their actions. I feel like I'm reading about real people with real life stories. Remarque's heroes, like real people, are imperfect, but they have a certain logic in their actions, with the help of which it is easy to explain and understand what they feel and do. The main character in the book “All Quiet on the Western Front,” as in other Remarque novels, evokes deep sympathy. And, in fact, I understand that it is Remarque who evokes sympathy, because it is very likely that there is a lot of himself in the main characters.

And here begins the most difficult part of my review, because I need to write about what I took out of the novel, what it is about from my point of view, and in this case it is very, very difficult. The novel talks about few facts, but includes a fairly wide range of thoughts and emotions.

The book, first of all, describes the life of German soldiers during the First World War, about their simple life, about how they adapted to harsh conditions, while maintaining human qualities. The book also contains descriptions of rather cruel and unsightly moments, but well, war is war, and you also need to know about this. From Paul's story you can learn about life in the rear and in the trenches, about dismissals, injuries, hospitals, friendship and small joys that also happened. But in general, the life of a soldier at the front is quite simple in appearance - the main thing is to survive, find food and sleep. But if you look deeper, then, of course, this is all very complicated. There is a rather complex idea in the novel, for which I personally find it quite difficult to find words. For the main character at the front it is emotionally easier than at home, because in war life comes down to simple things, but at home there is a storm of emotions and it is not clear how and what to communicate with people in the rear, who are simply not able to realize that is actually happening at the front.

If we talk about the emotional side and ideas that the novel carries, then, of course, the book is, first of all, about the clearly negative impact of war on an individual and on the nation as a whole. This is shown through the thoughts of ordinary soldiers, what they are experiencing, through their reasoning about what is happening. You can talk as long as you like about the needs of the state, about protecting the honor of the country and the people, and some material benefits for the population, but is all this important when you yourself are sitting in a trench, malnourished, not getting enough sleep, killing and seeing your friends die? Is there really anything that can justify such things?

The book is also about the fact that war cripples everyone, but especially young people. The older generation has some kind of pre-war life to which they can return, while young people have virtually nothing besides the war. Even if he survived the war, he will no longer be able to live like others. He experienced too much, life in the war was too divorced from ordinary life, there were too many horrors that are difficult for the human psyche to accept, with which one must come to terms and come to terms.

The novel is also about the fact that, in reality, those who actually fight with each other, the soldiers, are not enemies. Paul, looking at the Russian prisoners, thinks that they are the same people, government officials call them enemies, but, in essence, what should a Russian peasant and a young German who has just risen from his school bench share? Why should they want to kill each other? This is crazy! There is an idea in the novel that if two heads of state declared war on each other, then they just need to fight each other in the ring. But, of course, this is hardly possible. It also follows from this that all this rhetoric that the inhabitants of some country or some nation is an enemy makes no sense at all. Enemies are those who send people to their deaths, but for most people in any country, war is equally a tragedy.

In general, it seems to me that the novel “All Quiet on the Western Front” should be read by everyone; it is a reason to think about the period of the First World War, and indeed about the war, about all its victims, about how people of that time understand themselves and everything happening around. I think that you need to periodically reflect on such things in order to understand for yourself what the meaning is, and whether there is any at all.

The book “All Quiet on the Western Front” is worth reading for everyone who does not know what “war” is, but wants to find out in the brightest colors, with all the horrors, blood and deaths, almost from the first person. Thanks to Remarque for such works.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with what was written in 1929 and read its summary. “All Quiet on the Western Front” is the title of the novel that interests us. The author of the work is Remarque. The writer's photo is presented below.

The following events begin the summary. "All Quiet on the Western Front" tells the story of the height of the First World War. Germany is already fighting against Russia, France, America and England. Paul Boyler, the narrator of the work, introduces his fellow soldiers. These are fishermen, peasants, artisans, schoolchildren of various ages.

The company rests after the battle

The novel tells about soldiers of one company. Omitting the details, we have compiled a brief summary. “All Quiet on the Western Front” is a work that mainly describes a company, which included the main characters - former classmates. It has already lost almost half of its members. The company is resting 9 km from the front line after meeting with the British guns - “meat grinders”. Because of the losses suffered during the shelling, the soldiers receive double portions of smoke and food. They smoke, eat, sleep and play cards. Paul, Kropp and Müller head to their wounded classmate. These four soldiers ended up in one company, persuaded by their class teacher Kantorek, with his “sincere voice.”

How Joseph Bem was killed

Joseph Boehm, the hero of the work “All Quiet on the Western Front” (we describe the summary), did not want to go to war, but, fearing refusal to cut off all paths for himself, he signed up, like others, as a volunteer. He was one of the first to be killed. Because of the wounds he received in his eyes, he was unable to find shelter. The soldier lost his bearings and was eventually shot. Kantorek, a former mentor to soldiers, sends his regards to Kropp in a letter, calling his comrades “iron guys.” So many Kantoreks fool young people.

Death of Kimmerich

Kimmerich, another of his classmates, was found by his comrades with an amputated leg. His mother asked Paul to look after him, because Franz Kimmerich was “just a child.” But how can this be done on the front lines? One look at Kimmerich is enough to understand that this soldier is hopeless. While he was unconscious, someone stole his favorite watch, received as a gift. There were, however, some good leather English knee-length boots left, which Franz no longer needed. Kimmerich dies in front of his comrades. The soldiers, depressed by this, return to the barracks with Franz's boots. Kropp becomes hysterical on the way. After reading the novel on which the summary is based ("All Quiet on the Western Front"), you will learn the details of these and other events.

Replenishment of the company with recruits

Arriving at the barracks, the soldiers see that they have been replenished with new recruits. The living replaced the dead. One of the new arrivals says that they ate only rutabaga. Kat (the breadwinner Katchinsky) feeds the guy beans and meat. Kropp offers his own version of how combat operations should be conducted. Let the generals fight on their own, and the one who wins will declare his country the winner of the war. Otherwise it turns out that others are fighting for them, those who do not need the war at all, who did not start it.

The company, replenished with recruits, goes to the front line for sapper work. The recruits are taught by the experienced Kat, one of the main characters in the novel “All Quiet on the Western Front” (the summary only briefly introduces readers to him). He explains to recruits how to recognize explosions and shots and how to avoid them. He assumes, having listened to the “roar of the front,” that they will “be given a light at night.”

Reflecting on the behavior of soldiers on the front line, Paul says that they are all instinctively connected to their land. You want to squeeze into it when shells whistle overhead. The earth appears to the soldier as a reliable intercessor; he confides his pain and fear to her with a cry and a groan, and she accepts them. She is his mother, brother, only Friend.

Night shelling

As Kat thought, the shelling was very dense. The pops of exploding chemical shells are heard. Metal rattles and gongs announce: “Gas, gas!” The soldiers have only one hope - the tightness of the mask. All funnels are filled with “soft jellyfish”. We need to get up, but there is artillery fire there.

The comrades count how many people from their class are left alive. 7 killed, 1 in a mental hospital, 4 wounded - a total of 8. Respite. A wax lid is attached above the candle. Lice are dumped there. During this activity, the soldiers reflect on what each of them would do if there was no war. The former postman, and now the main torturer of the guys during the Himmelstoss exercises, arrives at the unit. Everyone has a grudge against him, but his comrades have not yet decided how to take revenge on him.

The fighting continues

The preparations for the offensive are further described in the novel All Quiet on the Western Front. Remarque paints the following picture: coffins smelling of resin are stacked in 2 tiers near the school. Corpse rats have bred in the trenches, and they cannot be dealt with. It is impossible to deliver food to the soldiers due to the shelling. One of the recruits has a seizure. He wants to jump out of the dugout. The French attack, and the soldiers are pushed back to a reserve line. After a counterattack, they return with the spoils of booze and canned food. There is continuous shelling from both sides. The dead are placed in a large crater. They are already lying here in 3 layers. All living things became stupefied and weakened. Himmelstoss is hiding in a trench. Paul forces him to attack.

Only 32 people remained from a company of 150 soldiers. They are being taken further to the rear than before. Soldiers smooth out the nightmares of the front with irony. This helps to escape from insanity.

Paul goes home

In the office where Paul was summoned, he is given travel documents and a vacation certificate. He looks at the “border pillars” of his youth from the window of his carriage with excitement. Here, finally, is his house. Paul's mother is sick. Showing feelings is not customary in their family, and the mother’s words “my dear boy” say a lot. The father wants to show his friends his son in uniform, but Paul does not want to talk to anyone about the war. The soldier craves solitude and finds it over a glass of beer in quiet corners of local restaurants or in his own room, where the environment is familiar to him to the smallest detail. His German teacher invites him to the beer hall. Here, patriotic teachers, acquaintances of Paul, talk brilliantly about how to “beat up the Frenchman.” Paul is treated to cigars and beer, while plans are made on how to take over Belgium, large areas of Russia and the coal areas of France. Paul goes to the barracks where the soldiers were trained 2 years ago. Mittelstedt, his classmate, who was sent here from the infirmary, reports the news that Kantorek has been taken into the militia. According to his own scheme, the class teacher is trained by a career military man.

Paul is the main character of the work "All Quiet on the Western Front." Remarque writes about him further that the guy goes to Kimmerich’s mother and tells her about the instant death of her son from a wound to the heart. The woman believes his convincing story.

Paul shares cigarettes with Russian prisoners

And again the barracks, where the soldiers trained. Nearby there is a large camp where Russian prisoners of war are kept. Paul is on duty here. Looking at all these people with the beards of the apostles and childish faces, the soldier reflects on who turned them into murderers and enemies. He breaks his cigarettes and passes them in half to the Russians through the net. Every day they sing dirges, burying the dead. Remarque describes all this in detail in his work (“All Quiet on the Western Front”). The summary continues with the arrival of the Kaiser.

Arrival of the Kaiser

Paul is sent back to his unit. Here he meets with his people. They spend a week racing around the parade ground. On the occasion of the arrival of such an important person, soldiers are given a new uniform. The Kaiser doesn't impress them. Disputes are beginning again about who is the initiator of wars and why they are needed. Take, for example, the French worker. Why would this man fight? The authorities decide all this. Unfortunately, we cannot dwell in detail on the author’s digressions when compiling a summary of the story “All Quiet on the Western Front.”

Paul kills a French soldier

There are rumors that they will be sent to fight in Russia, but the soldiers are sent to the front line, into the thick of it. The guys go on reconnaissance. Night, shooting, rockets. Paul is lost and does not understand which direction their trenches are located. He spends the day in a crater, in mud and water, pretending to be dead. Paul has lost his pistol and is preparing a knife in case of hand-to-hand combat. A lost French soldier falls into his crater. Paul rushes at him with a knife. When night falls, he returns to the trenches. Paul is shocked - for the first time in his life he killed a man, and yet he, in essence, did nothing to him. This is an important episode of the novel, and the reader should certainly be informed about it when writing a summary. “All Quiet on the Western Front” (its fragments sometimes perform an important semantic function) is a work that cannot be fully understood without turning to the details.

Feast in Time of Plague

Soldiers are sent to guard a food warehouse. From their squad, only 6 people survived: Deterling, Leer, Tjaden, Müller, Albert, Kat - all here. In the village, these heroes of the novel “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Remarque, briefly presented in this article, discover a reliable concrete basement. Mattresses and even an expensive bed made of mahogany, with feather beds and lace are brought from the homes of escaped residents. Kat and Paul go on reconnaissance around this village. She is under heavy fire from In the barn they discover two frolicking piglets. There's a big treat ahead. The warehouse is dilapidated, the village is burning due to shelling. Now you can get anything you want from it. Passing drivers and security guards take advantage of this. Feast in Time of Plague.

Newspapers report: "No change on the Western Front"

Maslenitsa ended in a month. Once again the soldiers are sent to the front line. The marching column is being fired upon. Paul and Albert end up in the monastery infirmary in Cologne. From here the dead are constantly being taken away and the wounded are being brought back again. Albert's leg is amputated all the way down. After recovery, Paul is again on the front line. The position of the soldiers is hopeless. French, English and American regiments advance on the battle-weary Germans. Muller was killed by a flare. Kat, wounded in the shin, is carried out from under fire on his back by Paul. However, while running, Kata is wounded in the neck by a shrapnel, and he still dies. Of all his classmates who went to war, Paul was the only one left alive. There is talk everywhere that a truce is approaching.

In October 1918, Paul was killed. At this time it was quiet, and military reports came in as follows: “No change on the Western Front.” The summary of the chapters of the novel that interests us ends here.

This book is neither an accusation nor a confession. This is only an attempt to tell about the generation that was destroyed by the war, about those who became its victims, even if they escaped from the shells.

Erich Maria Remarque IM WESTEN NICHTS NEUES

Translation from German by Yu.N. Afonkina

Serial design by A.A. Kudryavtseva

Computer design A.V. Vinogradova

Reprinted with permission from The Estate of the Late Paulette Remarque and Mohrbooks AG Literary Agency and Synopsis.

The exclusive rights to publish the book in Russian belong to AST Publishers. Any use of the material in this book, in whole or in part, without the permission of the copyright holder is prohibited.

© The Estate of the Late Paulette Remarque, 1929

© Translation. Yu.N. Afonkin, heirs, 2014

© Russian edition AST Publishers, 2014

We are standing nine kilometers from the front line. Yesterday we were replaced; Now our stomachs are full of beans and meat, and we all walk around full and satisfied. Even for dinner, everyone got a full pot; On top of that, we get a double portion of bread and sausage - in a word, we live well. This hasn’t happened to us for a long time: our kitchen god with his crimson, like a tomato, bald head himself offers us more food; he waves the ladle, inviting passers-by, and pours out hefty portions to them. He still won’t empty his “squeaker,” and this drives him into despair. Tjaden and Müller obtained several basins from somewhere and filled them to the brim - in reserve. Tjaden did it out of gluttony, Müller out of caution. Where everything that Tjaden eats goes is a mystery to all of us. He still remains as skinny as a herring.

But the most important thing is that the smoke was also given out in double portions. Each person had ten cigars, twenty cigarettes and two bars of chewing tobacco. Overall, pretty decent. I exchanged Katchinsky’s cigarettes for my tobacco, so now I have forty in total. You can last one day.

But, strictly speaking, we are not entitled to all this at all. The management is not capable of such generosity. We were just lucky.

Two weeks ago we were sent to the front line to relieve another unit. It was quite calm in our area, so by the day of our return, the captain received allowances according to the usual distribution and ordered to cook for a company of one hundred and fifty people. But just on the last day, the British suddenly brought up their heavy “meat grinders”, most unpleasant things, and beat them on our trenches for so long that we suffered heavy losses, and only eighty people returned from the front line.

We arrived at the rear at night and immediately stretched out on our bunks to first get a good night's sleep; Katchinsky is right: the war would not be so bad if only one could sleep more. You never get much sleep on the front line, and two weeks drag on for a long time.

When the first of us began to crawl out of the barracks, it was already midday. Half an hour later, we grabbed our pots and gathered at the “squeaker” dear to our hearts, which smelled of something rich and tasty. Of course, the first in line were those who always had the biggest appetite: short Albert Kropp, the brightest head in our company and, probably for this reason, only recently promoted to corporal; Muller the Fifth, who still carries textbooks with him and dreams of passing preferential exams: under hurricane fire, he crams the laws of physics; Leer, who wears a thick beard and has a weakness for girls from brothels for officers: he swears that there is an order in the army obliging these girls to wear silk underwear, and to take a bath before receiving visitors with the rank of captain and above; the fourth is me, Paul Bäumer. All four were nineteen years old, all four went to the front from the same class.

Immediately behind us are our friends: Tjaden, a mechanic, a frail young man of the same age as us, the most gluttonous soldier in the company - for food he sits down thin and slender, and after eating, he stands up pot-bellied, like a sucked bug; Haye Westhus, also our age, a peat worker who can freely take a loaf of bread in his hand and ask: “Well, guess what’s in my fist?”; Detering, a peasant who thinks only about his farm and his wife; and, finally, Stanislav Katchinsky, the soul of our squad, a man with character, smart and cunning - he is forty years old, he has a sallow face, blue eyes, sloping shoulders and an extraordinary sense of smell about when the shelling will begin, where you can get food and how It's best to hide from your superiors.

Our section headed the line that formed near the kitchen. We began to get impatient as the unsuspecting cook was still waiting for something.

Finally Katchinsky shouted to him:

- Well, open up your glutton, Heinrich! And so you can see that the beans are cooked!

The cook shook his head sleepily:

- Let everyone gather first.

Tjaden grinned:

- And we are all here!

The cook still didn't notice anything:

- Hold your pocket wider! Where are the others?

- They are not on your payroll today! Some are in the infirmary, and some are in the ground!

Upon learning of what had happened, the kitchen god was struck down. He was even shaken:

- And I cooked for a hundred and fifty people!

Kropp poked him in the side with his fist.

“That means we’ll eat our fill at least once.” Come on, start the distribution!

At that moment, a sudden thought struck Tjaden. His face, sharp as a mouse, lit up, his eyes squinted slyly, his cheekbones began to play, and he came closer:

- Heinrich, my friend, so you got bread for a hundred and fifty people?

The dumbfounded cook nodded absently.

Tjaden grabbed him by the chest:

- And sausage too?

The cook nodded again with his head as purple as a tomato. Tjaden's jaw dropped:

- And tobacco?

- Well, yes, that's it.

Tjaden turned to us, his face beaming:

- Damn it, that's lucky! After all, now everything will go to us! It will be - just wait! – that’s right, exactly two servings per nose!

But then the Tomato came to life again and said:

- It won’t work that way.

Now we, too, shook off our sleep and squeezed closer.

- Hey, carrot, why won’t it work? – asked Katchinsky.

- Yes, because eighty is not one hundred and fifty!

“But we’ll show you how to do it,” Muller grumbled.

“You’ll get the soup, so be it, but I’ll give you bread and sausage only for eighty,” Tomato continued to persist.

Katchinsky lost his temper:

“I wish I could send you to the front line just once!” You received food not for eighty people, but for the second company, that’s it. And you will give them away! The second company is us.

We took Pomodoro into circulation. Everyone disliked him: more than once, through his fault, lunch or dinner ended up in our trenches cold, very late, since even with the most insignificant fire he did not dare to move closer with his cauldron and our food bearers had to crawl much further than their brothers from other mouths. Here is Bulke from the first company, he was much better. Even though he was fat as a hamster, if necessary, he dragged his kitchen almost to the very front.

We were in a very belligerent mood, and, probably, things would have come to a fight if the company commander had not appeared at the scene. Having learned what we were arguing about, he only said:

- Yes, yesterday we had big losses...

Then he looked into the cauldron:

– And the beans seem to be quite good.

The tomato nodded:

- With lard and beef.

The lieutenant looked at us. He understood what we were thinking. In general, he understood a lot - after all, he himself came from our midst: he came to the company as a non-commissioned officer. He lifted the lid of the cauldron again and sniffed. As he left, he said:

- Bring me a plate too. And distribute portions for everyone. Why should good things disappear?

Soldiers are having dinner nine kilometers from the front line. They are given double portions of food and tobacco, since after the last attack eighty people returned from the battlefield instead of one hundred and fifty. For the first time, a line formed in front of the “squeaker” at lunchtime, after a night’s rest. It featured the main character, nineteen-year-old Paul Bäumer, with his classmates: Corporal Albert Kropp, who dreams of passing the physics exams, Muller the Fifth, and a lover of girls from brothels for officers, Leer. Following them were friends - the frail mechanic Tjaden, the peat worker Haye Westhus, the married peasant Detering, the forty-year-old cunning Stanislav Katchinsky. The cook, whom the soldiers nicknamed Tomato for his burgundy bald head, initially refused to give them a double portion, but was forced to surrender under the influence of the company commander.

After lunch, the soldiers receive letters and newspapers. They read them in a restroom located in a picturesque meadow. There they play cards and chat. Friends receive a written greeting from their former class teacher Kantorek. Paul recalls how, under his influence, they signed up as volunteers. The only one of the students who did not want to go to war, Joseph Bem, was killed first. The young man was shot in the face, lost consciousness and was considered dead. When Joseph came to his senses on the battlefield, no one could help him.

Soldiers visit the Kemmerich field hospital. Doctors amputated his leg. The patient is worried about the stolen watch and does not suspect that he will soon die. Müller decides to wait until he dies to take Kemmerich's high English boots.

Paul reflects on how difficult it is for them, young people, during the war. Unlike older people, they have no attachments in life - they have no profession, no wives, no children. The main character recalls how he spent ten weeks learning the art of war: the commander of the ninth squad, non-commissioned officer Himmelstoss, forced the soldiers to carry out unthinkable commands until they lost patience and poured full buckets from the latrine on him. Constant drill made the young men ruthless and callous, but it was these qualities that were useful to them in the trenches. The only good thing that the soldiers took from the war was a sense of camaraderie.

Kemmerich understands that he is leaving this life. Paul tries to cheer up his friend. Kemmerich asks to give his boots to Müller. An hour later he dies.

The company receives new additions from old-timers and very young ones. Katchinsky shares beans with one of the newcomers and hints that in the future he will give them only for cigars or tobacco. Friends remember the time they spent studying in the barracks, watching the air battle, reflecting on why the war turned Himmelstoss from a simple postman into a flayer. Tjaden brings news that the non-commissioned officer in question is arriving at the front. Friends waylay Himmelstoss coming from the tavern, throw a bedcloth on him and beat him. The next morning the heroes leave for the front.

On the front line, soldiers are sent to sapper work. They go to the first front line in the fog. The battlefield turns out to be colored with French missiles. After finishing the work, the soldiers doze off and wake up when the British begin to fire at their positions. The young recruit hides under Paul's armpit and shits his pants out of fear. The soldiers can hear the terrible screams of wounded horses. The animals are killed after collecting people injured by the shelling.

At three o'clock in the morning, soldiers leave the front line and come under heavy fire. They are hiding in the cemetery. Paul crawls into the shell hole and seeks shelter behind the coffin. The British begin a gas attack. The shell lifts a coffin into the air, which falls on the hand of one of the recruits. Paul and Katchinsky want to kill a young soldier wounded in the thigh in order to spare him a painful death, but they do not have time to do this and go for a stretcher.

In the barracks, the soldiers dream about what they will do after the war is over. Haye wants to spend a week in bed with a woman. The soldier does not intend to return to the peat bogs - he would like to be a non-commissioned officer and remain for extended service. Tjaden insults Himmelstoss, who has approached his friends. When the rivals disperse, the soldiers continue to dream of a peaceful life. Kropp believes that in the beginning you need to stay alive. Paul says he would like to do something unthinkable. Meanwhile, Himmelstoss raises the office and gets into a verbal altercation with Kropp. The platoon commander, Lieutenant Bertink, orders Tjaden and Kropp a day of arrest.

Katchinsky and Paul steal geese from the poultry house of the headquarters of one of the regiments. In the shed they roast one of the birds for a long time. The soldiers take part of the roast to their arrested comrades.

The offensive begins. The authorities are preparing... coffins for the soldiers. Rats are coming to the front. They are encroaching on the soldiers' bread. The soldiers are organizing a hunt for evil creatures. The soldiers wait for an attack for several days. After a night of shelling, the recruits' faces turn green and begin to vomit. The line of fire on the front line is so dense that food cannot be delivered to the soldiers. The rats are running for their lives. The recruits sitting in the dugout begin to go crazy with fear. When the shelling ends, the French go on the attack. The Germans throw grenades at them and retreat in short dashes. Then the counterattack begins. German soldiers reach French positions. The authorities decide to bring them back. Those retreating take with them French stew and butter.

Paul, standing at his post, remembers a summer evening in the cathedral, old poplars towering over the stream. The soldier thinks that, having returned to his native places, he will never be able to feel in them the love that he experienced before - the war has made him indifferent to everything.

Day follows day, attack follows counterattack. The bodies of the dead are piled up in front of the trenches. One of the wounded screams at the ground for several days, but no one can find him. On the front line, butterflies fly in front of the soldiers. The rats don't bother them anymore - they eat the corpses. The main losses occur among recruits who do not know how to fight.

During the next attack, Paul notices Himmelstoss, who is trying to sit out in the trench. The soldier forces his former boss to enter the battlefield with blows.

Old fighters teach young ones the art of survival. Haye Westhus's back is torn apart. Thirty-two people are returning from the front line.

In the rear, Himmelstoss offers peace to his friends. He supplies them with food from the officers' canteen and arranges outfits for the kitchen. Paul and Kropp look at the poster of the front theater, which depicts a beautiful girl in a light dress and white shoes. At night, Paul, Kropp and Katchinsky are transported to the other side of the river to the French women. They bring bread and liverwurst to hungry women and receive love in return.

Paul is given leave for seventeen days, then he must attend courses in one of the rear camps. The hero is greeted at home by his older sister Erna. Paul cannot hold back his tears from excitement. He finds his mother in bed. She has cancer. The father constantly asks the hero about the war. The German teacher invites Paul to a cafe, where one of the visitors tells the guy how to fight.

Paul sits in his room, looks at books and waits for the joyful feeling of youth to return to him. Tired of vain expectations, the hero goes to the barracks to visit Mittelstedt. The latter commands the militia Kantorek, who once left him for the second year.

Paul shares his rations with his relatives - there is almost no food left in the rear. The hero tells Kemmerich's mother that her son died quickly, from a shot in the heart. Paul spends the night before leaving with his mother, who cannot move away from her son’s bed. The hero regrets that he got a vacation.

Next to the military camp there is a Russian prisoner of war camp. Paul sympathizes with the good-natured peasants suffering from bloody diarrhea. He understands that the Germans and Russians became enemies on someone’s orders, which could just as easily turn them into friends. Before going to the front, Paul is visited by his father and sister. The hero's mother is admitted to the hospital for surgery.

At the front, Paul finds his friends alive. The Kaiser arranges a review of the troops. The soldiers discuss the causes of the war and come to the conclusion that they are beyond the sphere of life of ordinary people. Paul, feeling uneasy because of his vacation, volunteers to go on reconnaissance. During the attack, he pretends to be dead, wounds an enemy soldier caught in his crater, and after a while helps him get drunk and bandage his wounds. At three o'clock the Frenchman dies. Paul realizes that he has taken the life of his brother and promises to send money to the family of the printer Gerard Duval, who he killed. In the evening the hero breaks through to his own people.

Soldiers guard the village. In it they find a pig and the officers' food supplies. All day they cook and eat, all night they sit with their pants down in front of the dugout. Three weeks pass like this. During the retreat, Kropp and Paul are wounded. A splinter is taken out of the latter’s leg. Friends are sent home by sanitary train. On the way, Kropp develops a fever. Paul gets off the train with him. Friends are in the hospital of a Catholic monastery. A local doctor conducts experiments on curing flat feet on wounded soldiers. Kropp's leg is amputated. Paul begins to walk. His wife comes to visit the sick Levandovsky. They make love right in the ward. Paul is discharged in the summer. After a short vacation, he goes to the front again.

Paul Beumler is the main character of the novel; A nineteen-year-old schoolboy, along with his classmates, volunteered to go to war (1914-1918), succumbing to the general patriotic impulse and militaristic propaganda. But several weeks of military training with drills, steps and soldierly stupidity had dispelled the “classical ideal of the fatherland” in the eyes of the young man.

P.B. gets to the front line, having already lost all illusions. The hero's further journey through the circles of front-line hell becomes a chain of new and new discoveries of the terrible, inhuman truth about the war. The narration is told in the first person and, despite the lack of dating, resembles a front-line diary. The description of the military events in which P.B. participates is interspersed with memories of peaceful days and sad thoughts about the injustice and evil of the world, personified in the war. Reflection, a flight of thought from concreteness to philosophical generalizations, an awareness of human existence as suffering and trials place the young soldier among the intellectual heroes of German literature, following the distant Goethean seekers and his slightly more mature contemporary Hans Castorp.

But if the latter, having gone through the school of the Magic Mountain, turns out to be stunned by the military cannonade of 1914 only in the symbolic finale of T. Mann’s novel, then the war itself with its massacres, the dead rotting on parapets and in abandoned trenches, lice, dirt, and soldiers’ abuse becomes the content of the novel and the habitat of P.B.

The inevitably cynical life in the trenches, described with naturalistic detail, amazes and shocks a young man from a provincial, poor, respectable German family. But the dirt of war does not stick to him; on the contrary, trials strengthen his soul. Each borderline situation reveals precious human material in the hero. P.B. has an intuitive, impeccable moral reaction to his surroundings, and in the horror of war, he exists according to the laws of good, no matter how difficult it may be.

Chastity and purity, even lyricism in the story about the first meeting with a woman, even if she is a girl from a dubious establishment on the enemy side. Adult courage in grief at the bedside of a painfully dying classmate and then the “holy lie” of his mother about the instant easy death of her son. Sympathy and willingness to help the hungry, ragged Russian prisoners, in whom P.B. sees not an enemy, but “only the pain of living flesh, the terrifying hopelessness of life and the ruthless cruelty of people.”

And finally, the key scene of the novel: the hours spent in the crater after the battle, next to him, P.B., mortally wounded by his own hand and in front of his eyes, the dying young Frenchman. Horrified by what he had done, looking at a photograph of the wife and child of the murdered man, he conjures: “Take twenty years of life from me, comrade, and get up!” He makes a promise to devote his future life to the memory and help of his victim’s family. But from the brief last paragraph of the novel, the reader learns that the hero of the book was killed in October 1918 during the days of calm, when military reports read: “...no change on the Western Front.” No change - only one priceless life left the world. And this postscript of the writer to the soldier’s confession he read illuminates it with a new, tragic light.