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AQWF Timeline
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Relieved from The Front
Paul and his friends return along with what's left of Second Company. They rest and eat double rations of food. Nearly half of the company had been lost in a previous battle. "But on the last day an astonishing number of English field guns opened up on us with high-explosive, drumming ceaselessly on our position, so that we suffered heavily and came back only eighty strong." -
Kemmerich's boots
Paul and his friends are sent to Platoon 9 and meet Himmelstoss. Kemmerich is soon to die after his leg has been severed. Aware of his impending death, Kemmerich offers his boots to Muller. "Under the skin the life no longer pulses, it has already pressed out to the boundaries of the body. Death is working through from within. It already has command in the eyes. Here lies our comrade, Kemmerich, who a little while ago was roasting horse-flesh with us and squatting in the shell-holes." -
Revenge
Paul and his comrades have not taken a liking to Himmelstoss. Especially Tjaden for the way that Himmelstoss treates bed wetters. They have plotted revenge an act on it. They cover him with bed sheets and whip him. Heavy emotions are involved in the beating and they escape without being recognized. Although satisfied, Paul and his friends must go to the front the next day. "Revenge is black-pudding." -
The Graveyard
Paul and several others hide in the graveyard from the bombardment. They drag the bodies out of the coffins and use the cffins for cover. They also use the earth to avoid death. "But the shelling is stronger than everything. It wipes out the sensibilities, I merely crawl still deeper in the coffin, it should protect me, and especially as Death himself lies in it too." -
Served Right
Paul and his friends all disrespect Himmelstoss deeply. Tjaden decided to call him countless names and ended up seeing Bertink, the magistrate. They tell the magistrate of Himmelstoss' abusive behaviour and they are understood. They recieve very light sentences and Himmelstoss is put in his place. "The story of the bed-wetting makes an impression. Himmelstoss is recalled and I repeat my statement." -
Back Again
Second Company returns to the front for a third time. They are succesful on their mission but only thirty-two men survive. "The Front is a cage in which we must await fearfully whatever may happen. We lie under the network of arching shells and live in suspense of uncertainty. Over us Chance hovers." -
On Leave
Paul is on a 14 day leave. He goes to see his mother and due other various activities during his time of peace. "I breathe deeply and say over to myself: "You are at home; you are at home." But a sense of strangeness will not leave me, I can find nothing of myself in all these things. There is my mother, there is my sister, there is my case of butterflies, and there is the mahogany piano – but I am not myself there. There is a distance, a veil between us. " -
Bad News
Paul tells Kemmerich's Mother what has happened. He lies about his death and waters down what really happened. He says that Kemmerich was shot in the heart and died a painless death. "When a man has seen so many dead he cannot understand any longer why there should be so much anguish over a single individual. So I say rather impatiently: "He died immediately. He felt absolutely nothing at all. His face was quite calm." -
Tougher Odds
The German army has started receiving weapons, food, and clothes of the lesser quality. "We are so completely played out that in spite of our great hunger we do not think of the provisions. Then gradually we become something like men again." -
Prisoners of War
Paul was sent back to camp after his leave which has a POW camp nearby. It is full of Russian prisoners and they are all fearful and hungry. Paul gives them cigarettes, revealing his soft side. "I take out my cigarettes, break each one in half and give them to the Russians. They bow to me and then light the cigarettes. Now red points glow in every face. They comfort me; it looks as though there were little windows in dark village cottages saying that behind them are rooms full of peace." -
Regret
Paul travels to the front and reunites with his friends. Haie had died though. They are sent to uncover the enemies new position but are pinned by lots of gunfire and rocket barrages. To Paul's suprise, a Frenchmen jumps into the same crater that Paul is in and Paul stabs him with a dagger. Paul deeply wishes that he didn't for Paul is now exploring his emotions at this point in time. "Comrade, I did not want to kill you. If you jumped in here again, I would not do it," -
An Easy Break
Paul and his friends are given the job of gaurding a village that has been abandoned because of shell fire. They find a concrete cellar to stay in and eat two pigs that appeared almost magically. "We have to take things as lightly as we can, so we make the most of every opportunity, and nonsense stands stark and immediate beside horror. It cannot be otherwise, that is how we hearten ourselves. So we zealously set to work to create an idyll---and idyll of eating and sleeping of course." -
Evacuation
Paul and his friends are sent to the front again to evacuate a village that has civilians in it. After the evacuation, bombardment is heavy and Paul and Albert Kropp are injured. "A few days later we are sent to evacuate a village. On the way we meet the fleeing inhabitants trundling their goods and chattels along with them in wheelbarrows, in perambulators, and on their backs. Theri figures are bent, their faces full of grief, despair, haste, and resignation." -
Hospitalized
Paul and Albert Kropp are hospitalized from their injuries. Albert sweared suicide if his leg got amputated, which it did. They were greatly annoyed by the prayers of the nuns for it was a Catholic hospital. "I count up to five. Then I take hold of a bottle, aim, and heave it through the door into the corridor. It smashes into a thousand pieces. The praying stops. A swarm of sisters appear and reproach us in concert. "Shut the door!" we yell." -
AWOL
Detering is very homesick and wishes to return to his farm. He tries to desert the military but is caught, court-martialled, and never heard from again. "Anyone might have known that his flight was only homesickness and a momentary aberration. But what does a court-martial know about it? We have heard nothing of Detering." -
Inheritance
Muller has been shot in the stomach at point-black. He dies a painful death and passes Kemmerich's boots down to Paul. "Before he died he handed over his pocket-book to me, and bequeathed me his boots---the same that he once inherited from Kemmerich. I wear them, for they fit me quite well. After me, Tjaden will get them, I have promised them to him." -
Heavy Losses
Leer's waist is badly wounded by a fragment. Nobody is able to aid him and finally collapses and dies. The same fragment also killed the company commander. "Bertinck has a chest wound. After a while a fragment smashes away his chin, and the same fragment has sufficient force to tear open Leer's hip. Leer groans as he supports himself on his arm, he bleeds quickly, no one can help him. Like and emptying tube, after a couple of minutes he collapses." -
Downfall
The favor of victory is definitly towards the Americans, English, French, and Russians. German soldiers are heavily plagued and issued terrible gear and rations. Many are dying and the Germans are outnumbered. "The months pass by. The summer of 1918 is the most bloody and the most terrible. The days stand like angels in blue and gold, incomprehensible, above the ring of annihilation. Every man here knows that we are losing the war." -
Nothing More
Kat's shin has been wounded. Paul carries him a great distance only to find that Kat, his only friend left, had been killed by a head injury on the way there. Paul falls into a deep depression soon after. "On the way without my having noticed it, Kat has caught a splinter in the head. There is just one little hole, it must have been a very tiny splinter. But it has sufficed. Kat is dead." -
All Quiet on the Western Front
Paul is at rest after swallowing a lethal amount of gas. He bravely took death and died seeming relieved that it is all over. "Paul fell in October 1918, on a day that was so quiet and still on the whole front, that the army report confined itself to the single sentence: All quiet on the Western Front."
