Chapter 8 Summary

Continued improvements in the weather make life in the trenches more pleasant. Flowers begin to bloom and river bathing becomes a pleasure. Peasants begin various summer activities, including quail hunting. Eventually, however, the days become brutally hot. The soldiers' equipment and clothes begin to rust and rot away. Cigarette rations end entirely. Clouds of mosquitoes rise from the ground, and hordes of enormous rats are everywhere. The anarchist attack on Huesca falters and ends without taking the city. In June, another huge assault, assisted by airplanes, also fails to take the city. Orwell has been on the front lines, isolated from most news, for one hundred and fifteen days.

Orwell will come to remember the experience of social equality and revolutionary spirit on the front with great fondness. The time will become greatly important to him in his later life, and he will...