Storm of Steel: The Double Battle of Cambrai Summary & Analysis

Jünger and his men are sent back to the front, near the village of Vis-en-Artois. At the end of November, they are summoned to join a counter-offensive and are driven to the castle grounds of Baralle. On the day of the attack, they follow a canal to headquarters, where they learn that the offensive isn’t going so well. At seven sharp the next morning, with butterflies in his stomach, Jünger leads his men to the Siegfried line, and they begin to attack the British trench. Before long, young British soldiers emerge with their hands in the air. Jünger feels joyful as he watches a long line of about 200 men surrendering.

When Jünger is led to the British company commander, who is wounded, the man explains that his company was surrounded. This assures Jünger that the commander “was a real man.” They shake hands. Then Jünger, “like an old feudal commander,” allows his men to plunder the British trenches, gathering weapons and provisions, for a few minutes. Jünger himself enjoys some British tobacco and cognac while writing up his reports of the action.

As they are moving forward along the Siegfried Line, there’s some British resistance, so Jünger asks for volunteers to make another attack across the open field. The only volunteer is a Polish man whom Jünger had considered to be a “cretin,” but the comports himself admirably, reminding Jünger that “you can’t say you really know a man if you haven’t seen him under conditions of danger.”

They face down further British resistance over the course of the next day. Eventually, they’re inspired by a drunken subaltern who’s desperate to get at the “Tommies.” They race toward the British lines, hurling hand-grenades and dodging corpses all the way. They ultimately trap the group of British soldiers in a communications trench and finish them off. In the process, Jünger is grieved to learn that his longtime friend Tebbe has been killed. All in all, Jünger is pleased with the achievement of his 80 men and sustains only minor wounds, for which he refuses hospitalization, allowing them to heal over the Christmas leave. The battle of Cambrai is remembered as an attempt “to break out of the deadly stasis of trench-fighting by new methods.”