All Quiet on the Western Front: Chapter 11 Summary & Analysis

Paul has begun to think of war as a chronic illness, like cancer or tuberculosis. Germans suffer frequent casualties, and men’s thoughts are governed simply by whether or not they are in danger. The brotherhood of being a soldier equalizes and homogenizes men with different pasts, and it leads to a simultaneously “heroic and banal” condition in which men try to appreciate every hour they can, because their lives are so uncertain.

Pragmatic considerations are, to Paul, the “real problems” that are necessary to consider. The men all live on the same plane of primitive survival, concerned with nothing other than preserving their survival. They have been turned into “unthinking animals” so that they can use the “weapon of instinct,” and they can be almost completely indifferent to the horrors they witness. However, this indifference is not total—men will sometimes be struck with a grave emotional yearning, which Paul thinks illustrates that the soldiers’ have not become entirely primitive creatures. Instead of being naturally primitive, the soldiers are “primitive in an artificial sense, and by virtue of the utmost effort.”

In spite of the steps the soldiers take to diminish the effects of war, the men begin to break down. Detering passes a blossoming cherry tree and becomes fixated on it. He takes branches off the tree and carries them with him, to remind him of his orchard at home. Paul notices Detering acting strangely and packing up his gear, and advises the peasant not to act foolishly, but Detering deserts the army soon after. Instead of fleeing to Holland, which is a safer refuge for deserters, Detering makes the mistake of returning to Germany. A week later, he is caught by the military police, and the rest of the men hear nothing further of him.

Müller dies after being shot from point-blank range in the stomach. He agonizes for half an hour, and is conscious of his intense suffering. Before dying, Müller gives Paul his pocket-book and his boots—the very same boots that once belonged to Kemmerich. Paul promises that once he dies, the boots will be passed to Tjaden.

The German soldiers are emaciated and afflicted with dysentery, while Americans and English are well-equipped and in good health. Fresh German recruits are in poor health and die by the thousands—Kat muses that “Germany ought to be empty soon.” The men are convinced that the war will never end, as even seriously injured men are sent back to the front from the hospitals by cowardly surgeons who give in to the army’s demands for men.

Paul and his comrades are especially horrified by the tanks that assault them. Because the tanks are so impersonal and unfeeling, Paul thinks that they “embody for us the horror of war.”

Paul’s Company Commander, a courageous man named Bertinck, is killed, though he fights against the enemy until the very end. Leer is struck by a shrapnel fragment and bleeds out from his hip. Paul reflects that Leer’s excellence in math class was little use to him.

The summer of 1918 is particularly brutal, and the Germans know they are losing. They lack soldiers and ammunition, but continue to fight and die. The beautiful weather and rumors of an armistice make the men even more pained to return to the front.

Kat, Paul’s last friend left in the army, is shot in the shin as he and Paul transport food together. Paul carries Kat back to medical care, while Kat suffers brutally. The two reminisce over the time they roasted geese together, and exchange addresses so that they can correspond. When the two finally reach medical care, Paul discovers that Kat was struck in the head by a tiny piece of shrapnel, and is already dead. An orderly is so surprised by Paul’s devotion in carrying Kat such a long distance that he asks if Kat is Pauls’ relative.