Storm of Steel: Daily Life in the Trenches Summary & Analysis

Overall, Jünger describes life in the trenches as “strenuous monotony,” with occasional reprieves in Douchy. At the same time, there is a certain coziness about life in one’s dugout, and the experienced soldier no longer notices the sounds of rifle fire or flares. C Sector has even come to feel like home. Jünger and his men have shivered there through snowy winter and sung there through long summer nights. When the colonel wants to transfer them to another location, the entire company begs him to let them remain.

Jünger includes a selection of his diary entries from life at Monchy. The entries include stories like a string of woundings and deaths in a single day, the sudden discovery of a long-abandoned French corpse, and the swamping of the trench after a night of downpours. Sometimes the men go hunting for game in the surrounding woods. On one occasion, an especially beloved member of the company, a father of four, is shot in the head. His weeping comrades spend a long time trying to shoot a “Britisher” in revenge.

While the battalion is enjoying a period of rest in the town of Quéant, Jünger’s commission as a lieutenant comes through, and he is posted to the Battalion’s 2nd Company after having been with the 6th. During their reprieve, Jünger sees the sway held by local commandants, such as a Captain of Horse who calls himself the King of Quéant, who spends his time drunkenly touring the countryside in a dogcart and getting into feuds with other so-called “monarchs.”

In December, Jünger rejoins C Sector at the head of his new company. He finds that the trench has been reduced to a muddy pit. He and the men spend weeks draining and rebuilding. One day, he emerges to find German and British soldiers talking and exchanging schnapps and cigarettes between the trenches. Suddenly a German soldier is shot dead, and everyone retreats to their respective trenches. Jünger negotiates with a British officer in English and French, remarking that they parted ways with “an almost sportsmanlike admiration” for one another, although they mutually declare war against each other “for clarity’s sake.”

Jünger remarks that, throughout the war, he always tried to view his enemy without hostility. Instead, he sought to evaluate his enemies on the basis of the courage they displayed. That doesn’t mean he didn’t seek to kill his enemies, and he expected them to do the same. But he never thought ill of his opponents, and he always tried to take good care of any prisoners who fell into his hands.

The company spends Christmas Eve singing hymns in the mud, and the British respond with machine-gun fire. When the British erect a Christmas tree atop their trench, the Germans promptly shoot it down, with the British hurling grenades in response. Jünger notes, “It was all in all a less than merry Christmas.”

In the midst of other, typical war wounds and fatalities, Jünger observes that “overfamiliarity” was a frequent cause of casualties, too. Sometimes men would collect and tinker with “dud” shells, leading to deadly accidents.

Jünger notes that the British flanking battery causes considerable chaos that February—firing rounds about once per hour and robbing the battalion of especially valued comrades, a total of 10 casualties within the space of a few days. There is little to do to counteract such a barrage, except to reinforce the trench as soundly as possible. In March, the return of spring and consequent drying of the mud help a good deal. Jünger often enjoys harmonious meals and card-playing sessions with the other three officers, the “congeniality” of which compensate somewhat for the hard work and suffering they all must endure. During this time of largely stationery warfare, they settle into an almost “peacetime” routine.