Weak from the emotion he feels when he hears his sister's voice, Paul leans on his rifle and weeps, then recovers his military bearing and demands a handkerchief. The smells of the stream draw his thoughts to memories of playing there as a boy. He takes in the street, cyclists, a subway, the mill bridge, an old tower, shops, and bare-armed laundresses. He buys his pals a round of drinks at the canteen, bids goodbye to the brunette, and then reports to the railhead for the long trip home.Īrriving on Saturday, Paul's heart trembles at the passing scene as it becomes more familiar. Kat encourages him to try to get a job at the training camp talking with Kat, Paul wonders whether he will ever see these comrades again. In her arms, he tries to forget the death and the terror of war.įollowing their amorous episode, Paul is issued a seventeen-day pass, to be followed by training on the moors, totaling a full six weeks away from battle. Paul, disdainful of military brothels, clings to a small brunette, his mind filled with passion for the dream girl he saw on the poster. The girls welcome their late-night visitors, chatter in French, and share the food. Later that night, undeterred by lack of official leave and bolstered by rum, punch, and tall tales, the men plunge into the canal, holding cigarettes in their boots as they swim on their backs to the opposite side. After the soldiers promise food, the girls boldly gesture toward their house and walk on. Paul and the others decide to visit the delousing station.īilleted near a canal, Paul and his friends swim naked and flirt in makeshift, broken French with three French girls. The girls in the poster remind them of the life they had forgotten, and they look at themselves and see the many layers of civilization that are gone. Kropp and Paul find a theatre poster from a long-since-abandoned theatre.

Instead, he recounts who is dead and wounded and tries to use humor to keep his thoughts straight. At rest and full of food, Paul cannot think of the front line. Himmelstoss also took over the cooking from Ginger, so he brings Paul and his friends food. Himmelstoss is friendly and, because he brought Westhus back after he was wounded, Paul is kinder to him. They are reorganizing, in need of more than a hundred reinforcements. At the field depot, Second Company takes a brief, well deserved rest.

Sister soldier life after death