7

We are taken back to a field depot to be reorganized and brought back up to strength. While there, the men get some well earned rest and relaxation. While loafing, Himmelstoss comes to them a changed man. His combat experiences have made him friendlier. The men welcome him, except for Tjaden. Soon, however, Himmelstoss is made cook for Second Company, and begins treating me and his comrades especially well, and even Tjaden accepts him. They are rested and well fed, and the terror of the front begins to sink down inside them. We never forget, however; they simply enjoy the rest while they have it. Kropp and I discover a poster for a theater company with a picture of a beautiful girl on it. She is perfect, and they can't take their eyes off her. There is a man next to the girl in the picture, but we tear him down, because he is clean and we are filthy. After looking at the beautiful girl some more, we decide to go get deloused and cleaned up. Leer and Tjaden come along and say vulgar things about the girl in the photo. While swimming, Leer, Kropp, Tjaden, and I spy three beautiful French women walking on the bank of the river across from their camp, where they aren't allowed to go. I especially notice one, a beautiful brunette girl. Using a little French, hand gestures, and a loaf of bread, we make plans with the girls to meet late that night. Since there are only three women, we get Tjaden so drunk that he passes out, and then get bread, sausage and cigarettes for the girls. We put the presents in their boots, and then go to the river. We swim across, holding the boots out of the water. On the other bank, we put their boots on and run, naked, to the girls' house. Once there, we give the girls their presents and watch them eat. The girls are very hungry. They chat happily in French, which we barely understand. We pair off, and I and the brunette go to a bedroom. I am nervous about the encounter, feeling naked without his soldier's gear. The girl kisses me, and I kiss her back, hoping that I will be able to forget the war, but I can't. On the way back to their camp, I am miserable, until we see Tjaden running, naked, to the river. We laugh and go to their quarters to sleep.

I am issued leave--seventeen days. Bertink tells me that after traveling, I will report to a training camp before returning to the front. My comrades are jealous. Kat advises me to try and get a safe desk job. They drink at the canteen ands say good-bye, but I gloomily wonder who will still be alive when I return from training. That night, we meet the French girls again. I tells the brunette that I am going on leave, but she doesn't seem to care. I am confused, but realize that the girl finds my leave boring, and would only be interested if I was going to the front. The next morning, Kropp and Kat walk me to the train station, and then say goodbye.
Once home I am greeted by my oldest sister, who hugs me in joy and calls for mother. I almost faint, but pulls himself together. I look in on mother, who is very sick. I sit by her and think of how kind she is for making my favorite foods, but I am uneasy and cannot feel at home amongst my childhood things. I give mother and my sister the food I brought. My old suit doesn't fit very well, but it is light after months of wearing a uniform. My mother is happy I have changed, but father wants me to put the uniform back on so he can show off. I naturally refuse.
I sit in my room and look at my old books and other possessions. I truly miss the joy I got in reading and learning. I hope that after the war I will be able to return and love my books again. I think of Kemmerich, and contemplate visiting his mother, but that leads me to thinking about my being with my comrades at the front. I turn my attention back to the room, and try to find inspiration in the books. When I page through them, however, I find that they no longer inspire me the way they once did.
I go to visit another old friend, Mittelstaedt, at the local army barracks, and receives interesting news: our old teacher, Kantorek, has been called up as a territorial--a low-ranking soldier. Mittelstaedt tells Paul all about ordering Kantorek around, including yelling at him for the death of their classmate, Joseph Behm. He then shows me Kantorek himself, who is forced to wear old, badly fitting clothing for his uniform. I can’t help but laugh and thinks about the days when he was scared of Kantorek. Mittelstaedt makes Kantorek do all kinds of torturous exercise, taunting him with Kantorek's own quotes from their old classroom.
With four days left in my leave, I decide to go see Kemmerich's mother. There, she cries and yells and begs me to tell her of her son's death. I have to lie to her and tells her he died quickly, but she doesn't believe me. She asks me to swear I am telling the truth "by everything sacred," but I am hard pressed to think of anything I finds sacred anymore. I swear anyway, and she says she hopes I will never return from the front if I am lying. She gives me a picture of Kemmerich and I leave.
It is my last night at home, and mother comes to my bed. We sit in silence for some time, and then I tells her to go to sleep. I assures her that I will try to visit while at training camp. She warns me about French women and tells me to be careful at the front. I assures her that I am going to do everything I can to be safe, and walks her to her room. As we say goodnight, she gives me some underwear that she couldn't really afford, and goes to bed. I go back to bed, agonized, wishing I had never come home on leave.

* lorries: a large vehicle for transporting goods by road
"Below there are cyclist, lorries men..." (Remarque, 155).

* Parapet: a bank of soil, rubble, or sandbags piled up along the edge of a military trench for protection from enemy fire
"...against the parapet, in the dugout, just whre they were, the men sood and lay about, with blue faces, dead" (Remarque, 161).


The words say "We'll teach them to run" and was just one onf many typers of German Propraganda promoting Germany's strength over the warker countries, and promotino the idea that they were going to chase them off.

Family does not always understand the traumas brought about by war and what they may see as support may actually cause their loved ones misery.