Analysis of the Artillery Bombardments in All Quiet on The Western Front

In this account, the reader sees the battle through the eyes of a German soldier while fighting in the trenches against the French. Different soldiers in the trenches reacted differently to the enemy's artillery bombardment. The new recruits we not accustomed to the bombardment and hell that is know as war. The narrator describes their struggle by stating that: "Already by morning a few of the recruits are green and vomiting. They are too inexperienced" (p.316).

In one instance a recruit has appeared to have gone insane, repeatedly striking his head against the wall of the trench. While the artillery bombardment installed fear into the new recruits, the seasoned soldiers were hardly affected. Because the bombardments were almost a permanent fixture, the veterans hardly paid them any attention. While the recruits got worked up the veterans were not amused by the dull live they lived in the trenches. The narrator finally gets excited when "through the entrance in a swarm of fleeing rats that try to storm the walls. Torches light up the confusion" (p.316). Although the bombardments might have affected each soldier differently, they played a vital role in the soldiers' preparations for fighting.

Despite scaring the recruits and hardly amusing the veterans the artillery bombardments advised the soldiers of when the enemy would attempt an assault on the trench. The moment the artillery stopped bombing the trenches and began their bombardment behind the trenches the troops then knew that the assault was coming. The soldiers were partially lulled to sleep because the narrator notes that "no one would believe that in this howling waste there could still be men" (p.316). With the attack in progress the German troops began to counter the French offensive by throwing grenades and firing numerous machine gun rounds. At this point the Germans "have lost all feeling for one another" (p.317) and completely disregard the French for "if your father came over with them you would not hesitate to fling a bomb at him" (p.317).

The German troops disregarded the lives of their comrades and have realized that they must either defeat the attackers or they will be killed by the attackers. It in turn, is very similar to Darwin's survival of the fittest theory. No longer seeing the French attackers as people, the Germans view them rather as death bearing down on them. The Germans "have become wild beasts" (p.317) who can "destroy and kill, to save ourselves and to be revenged" (p.317), holding this feeling until the fighting ceases. At this point the Germans are completely exhausted and finally are able to rest. The German soldiers transform into this mode during battle, but when the fighting pauses they "gradually become something like men again" (p.318). It is this vicious cycle that has caused the German soldiers to become killing machines without regard for anyone.

All Quiet on the Western Front is the work of Erich Maria