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The Woods of St-Pierre-Vaast
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Storm of Steel, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Manliness and Duty
Modern Warfare
Suffering and Death
Foreigners, Enemies, and Empathy
The Complex Reality of War
Summary
Analysis
In February 1917, following some additional officer training, Jünger rejoins his regiment and takes over command of the 8th Company. Jünger occupies a cozy dugout about 50 yards from the front line, often enjoying the company of officers Hambrock, a freckled astronomer, and Eisen, a plump, near-sighted man with the bad habit of carrying live hand-grenades in his pockets. Both men die within a few months.
Jünger seldom writes in great detail about his comrades; they don’t appear as developed characters in his narrative, except for battle episodes, or, as here, brief descriptions of domestic life in the trenches. This is consistent with the episodic nature of Jünger’s diary-keeping, on which the memoir is based.
Themes
In light of rumors of an even more extensive matériel offensive by the British, the Germans engage in a tactical withdrawal. At one point, about 50 British attack the trench, but the Germans are prepared, and only one British soldier actually makes it inside. One British sergeant is brutally injured but remains calmly smoking his pipe until he dies. Jünger is favorably impressed by the man’s “bravery and manliness.”
A tactical withdrawal is a gradual withdrawal undertaken while still maintaining contact with the enemy—for the purposes of withdrawing to more favorable ground, for example, or consolidating one’s forces. Jünger remarks again on the hardiness of enemy soldiers, showing that he respects soldiers who fulfill his ideals of “manliness.”
Themes
In March, Colonel von Oppen assigns Jünger to hold the front with two platoons while the regiment withdraws across the Somme. As the platoons move to the front, Jünger observes that other companies are furiously dismantling villages, smashing or stealing everything within reach. He finds the sight “half funny, half repellent.” He sees such destruction as something that dishonors the soldier as well as hurting civilians.
These observations of Jünger’s are an example of a place where his commentary is influenced by hindsight. At the time, he sees destruction and looting as partially funny, but with time and reflection, he comes to appreciate how such activities are dehumanizing for the perpetrators, as well as for those whose property is stolen or destroyed.
Themes
On March 13, the rest of the regiment withdraws, and Jünger’s company remains in the position, readying booby-traps and time-bombs for their enemies to find. A few days later, after repelling an English attack, Jünger’s men blow up their foxholes and withdraw towards the Somme, the last to cross the river before the bridges are blown up. They settle into the village of Lehaucourt, where they’re awarded a two-week furlough, and Jünger treats his friends to mulled wine.
The regiment completes their tactical withdrawal by making sure that their defenses and any remaining supplies are useless to their enemies, showing how military conquest can also be strategic and calculated rather than overtly violent.
Themes
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