All Quiet on the Western Front Summaries Ch.6-9

All Quiet on the Western Front Chapter 6 Summary Notes • The soldiers are ordered back to the front, passing stacks of coffins • In the trenches, there are rats, the men suffer from claustrophobia, the bombing is deafening, they can’t sleep, there is little food • Out of the trenches, they push the French enemy back & finally return to their camp & get some food • Paul feels like he & the other German soldiers are lost • An injured soldier cries for days in “No Man’s Land,” but they cannot find him; they do their best to bury their dead • Young recruits arrive as reinforcements, but they are killed quickly • Himmelstoss panics in fear in his first battle • The injuries are horrific; only 32 men of the 150 survive Chapter 7 Summary Notes • Paul remembers who they’ve lost • Paul & Kropp daydream over a theatre poster • Paul, Leer & Kropp sneak over the canal and visit some French women in a village • Paul has leave to go home – 17 days – he will miss Kat & Albert • His mother is sick with cancer, Paul feels out of place everywhere he goes, he visits Kemmerich’s mother & his friend Mittelstaedt Chapter 8 Summary Notes • Paul reports to a camp before returning to the front • He does exercises, drills, guard duty • Russian soldiers are held as prisoners here; Paul feels bad for them – they are hungry & sick • Paul’s father & sister visit before he leaves again; his mother will have surgery Chapter 9 Summary Notes • Paul is relieved that Kat & Albert are okay • The German Kaiser visits the front; everyone is given new uniform & boots for the occasion, but these are taken away when the Kaiser leaves • The soldiers talk again of the politics of war • Paul has a lot of fear & anxiety when he returns to the battlefield, he gets confused • Paul stabs a French soldier & is in a shell hole with him as the man dies • Kat & Albert find Paul a day after he is lost