Summary

Chapter 1 – Five miles from the fron tlines, Paul Baumer’s unit in the German infantry, the Second Company, is resting and refitting. They have just completed two weeks on the front lines and have experienced heavy losses. Paul, who narrates, tells a little about the members of the group of soldiers he socializes with as the men prepare to eat. The company consists of only eighty men, down from one hundred-fifty. Rations of food are handed out to the men.

The members of Second Company also receive their mail and their news. Albert Kropp reveals to Paul and the others their old schoolmaster, Kantorek, sends his regards. Paul, Kropp, Muller, and Leer are all nineteen and all members of the same class. Paul reflects unhappily on those in society who send others to make sacrifices without making any sacrifices of their own, such as Kantorek...