All Quiet on the Western Front Summary
All Quiet on the Western Front
Short Summary:
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...