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
Jünger doesn’t get many days of rest before his unit is called to relieve another company on the line. They’re troubled by frequent gas attacks, shells, and cold. They soon hear rumors, coming all the way from Ludendorff, of another big offensive coming, so they begin to practice accordingly, sometimes using live hand-grenades and sustaining casualties as a result.
Erich Ludendorff was one of the leading generals of the German high command during WWI. The offensive described here was Ludendorff’s attempt to make one final push for victory in 1918—hence Jünger’s willingness to engage in such high-stakes training.
Themes
In late January, Colonel von Oppen leaves to take charge of a battalion in Palestine. Jünger considers von Oppen, a man of great confidence who instilled a family atmosphere among his regiment, to be “living proof that there is such a thing as a born leader.” Sadly, von Oppen died of cholera not much later.
Jünger spares a few rare words of warm praise for an individual—in this case his esteemed Colonel, whose greatest attributes Jünger sees as his courage and leadership of his men.
Themes
Preparing for a huge push on the front line, they spend February laying roads and building up trenches. On the eve of battle, the men are optimistic about the success of the coming offensive. On March 17, they march to Brunemont.
The effort known as the Ludendorff Offensive—which lasted from March through July 1918—goes forward, with Jünger and his men taking their places along the front lines in the Somme.
Themes
