6

We are sent to the front early to prepare for a coming offensive. On the way there, we pass a huge wall of brand-new coffins. The men joke crudely about them, but they know that the coffins are there for them. At the front, they can hear the sound of trucks bringing supplies to the enemy. It is obvious that the English are preparing for something big. Morale is very low. That night, while keeping post in the dug-outs, we are shelled by their own artillery. This is not the first time that this has happened. I think about a time that I left a dug-out and when I returned it was gone. To me and my comrades, life and death become meaningless on the front. Rats eat the men's bread so we come up with a plan to kill them. They throw bits of bad bread in a pile and wait in the dark until the rats come, and then kill them with their spades. This helps for a short time. They find a few recruits who own saw-edged bayonets. They take these away and give them regular ones. They say that the enemy kills and brutalizes soldiers using the more destructive saw-edged bayonets. I comment that sharpened spades are more common in combat, anyway.
Time passes and the men become bleak, until the bombing finally happens. The men awake and collect themselves. The bombing seems to go on forever, and the men are stuck in their dug-out. Not even Kat can get them any food. The next morning, they get a little bread. One new recruit gets stir-crazy and insists on leaving the dug-out. Kat and I hold him down and slap him around to knock some sense into him. Finally, they have to tie him up and try to play cards to pass the time.
That night, the bombing finally stops, and the men prepare for the attack. They throw grenades out of the dug-out and then crawl out to meet the French enemy. Around noon, the men get in a trench and prepare for their counter-attack. They fight their way back to their first trench and a little beyond. They reach the enemy front line and fight in the trenches, then steal food and return to their position behind the protection of their artillery. That night, they eat happily. Afterwards, on watch, I think of memories that are calm and quiet.
At a point I encounter Himmelstoss in the trenches and end up in the same dug-out as him. When they charge again, I discover that Himmelstoss has stayed behind, in a daze. I gets angry that Himmelstoss is hiding while young boys are getting killed, and yell and kicks Himmelstoss to get him to fight. A lieutenant comes along and orders them to follow him, and Himmelstoss snaps out of his daze. He boldly rushes out to fight. I think of how tired of battle I is, and it is all he can do to fight and show less experienced people how to fight. I and my friends teach the new recruits important details of avoiding being killed, but when the fighting starts again, the recruits mostly do it wrong. Haie Westhus is dragged away, badly wounded and knowing he is dying. At the end of the battle, only a few hundred yards have been lost, but the battlefield is covered with dead bodies. They get off the truck and Company Commander Bertink shouts for Second Company to gather. He orders them to count off, but there are only thirty-two of the original 150 that went to the front at the beginning of the offensive. They march back to their camp.

* Bayonet: a blade that can be attached to the end of a rifle and used for stabbing
"But the bayonet had prattically lost its importance" (Remarque, 104).

* Artillery: large-caliber guns, e.g. cannons, howitzers, missile launchers, and mortars
"The attack is crushed by our artillery" (Remarque, 114).


No matter who or what you stand for in a war, you will always be haunted by these things, Famine, Anarchy, and Plague.

Even the most hard nosed of people an fall to the trauma of war and destruction, and sometimes it takes a abrupt call to bring them back to their senses.