The chapter opens with Paul reflecting on how the war makes them feel cut off from their former lives. He recalls how it was when they went to the District Commandant to enlist. They had idealistic views of life and of war. Then they went through ten weeks of military training, where they were made to conform to a system that often did not make sense. They were being trained for heroism as though they were circus ponies. But they got used to it, and were able to distinguish between the things that were necessary and the things that were not. During their training, Paul and his friends ended up in a platoon under Corporal Himmelstoss. There was a mutual dislike between Himmelstoss and the men. He was a ruthless and petty disciplinarian who made them suffer as much as he could, making them do pointless drills and never being satisfied with how they performed. The men defied him as much as they could, and eventually he left them in peace.

Paul visits the dying Kemmerich, who has been his friend since childhood. He tries to encourage him, but he knows Kemmerich will be dead within a couple of hours. He feels helpless. Kemmerich dies. The orderlies remove his body at once, since they need the bed for another man. Paul gives Kemmerich’s boots to Müller.

Analysis
When Paul says that the comradeship the men forged with one another in training camp was the finest thing that came out of the war, he is stating one of the main themes of the novel. It is illustrated not only in Paul’s tender attempts to soothe Kemmerich’s last moments, but in Paul’s comments about Müller’s desire for Kemmerich’s boots. Müller realizes Kemmerich is dying, and having been made hard by the war, his desire for the dying man’s boots is simply practical. But Paul is also careful to point out that had Kemmerich survived, Müller would have run “barefoot over barbed wire” rather than scheme to take his boots.

The death of Kemmerich also shows the injustice of life and of war. “There he lies now—but why?” Paul asks. It is a question that he cannot answer, and it will be raised many times again in the course of the novel. Kemmerich’s death is only the first of many.

Reinforcements arrive, including twenty-five recruits two years younger than Paul and his friends, who feel like hardened veterans by comparison. Kat manages to get them some good food, which is a special talent of his. Kat always manages to get the supplies the men need. When they are quartered in a small factory, there appears to be no food at all available, but Kat goes out to explore and returns with two loaves of bread and fresh horse-meat. He does not explain where he got these luxuries.

Paul, Kropp and Kat sit around discussing the war and reminiscing about the times they had in the training camp. They watch a dogfight between two planes overhead. The German plane is shot down. Then they discuss why Himmelstoss is such a bully. Kat says there are many like him, because the army is based on one man having power over another. Power goes to a man’s head, and he soon abuses it. The men are joined by Tjaden, who warns them that Himmelstoss is on his way, and then by Haie. The presence of Haie reminds Paul of an occasion on the last day of their training when they got their revenge on Himmelstoss. They waited on a deserted road for him as he returned from a pub. When he came by they beat him up, having first thrown a blanket over his head so he would not know who his attackers were.

Analysis
This is a quiet chapter which serves to further introduce Paul and his friends. The emphasis is on the ever-resourceful Kat. However, the anti-war theme is not far from the surface. The men who actually have to do the fighting have a different view of the war than the politicians, and this is a novel written entirely from the point of view of the “grunts” in the trenches. Kropp says that the generals and politicians of the opposing countries should fight it out themselves in an arena. That would be a much more just arrangement than the existing one, in which “the wrong people do the fighting.” Kat has his explanation of why the army produces so many bullies in positions of power, and there is general ridicule of the drills and parades that are the ritual of army life, which do not prepare a man for what he will face on the front lines.

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