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Retreat from the Somme
Themes
and Colors
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
After the furlough, Jünger is ordered to set up an observation post near the village of Fresnoy. He and his men commandeer a little house for their viewing-station and residence. One day, he sets up an intelligence-clearing station, complete with telephone and telegraph wires, carrier pigeons, and bicyclists at his disposal. That night, he’s so tired that he sleeps through the shelling of the observation post.
In an age before wireless communication, setting up wartime communications was a laborious business. Selectively bred messenger pigeons were used during World War I to pass messages across dangerous territory and sometimes even for reconnaissance tasks like aerial photography.
Active
Themes
In late April, Fresnoy begins to be bombarded with artillery fire, and on the 27th, they receive intelligence of a coming attack. Jünger and his men face the terrible task of pulling corpses from the wreckage of a neighboring house. They have just enough time to regather in their own basement, fortifying themselves with cherry brandy, before the bombardment intensifies. When Jünger finally receives a valuable piece of intelligence to pass on—that the enemy is occupying nearby Arleux—his finds that his means of communication have all been destroyed by the artillery barrage. He realizes the error of having over-centralized the intelligence post. He and his men flee the house and village just in time to avoid destruction.
The destruction of the intelligence post in Fresnoy teaches Jünger too late that setting up all the intelligence methods in one place was a mistake; his work is handily destroyed by the artillery bombardment that strikes the village. The artillery fire during the battle of the Somme is merciless and brings unprecedented death and destruction along the front lines and nearby villages.
Active
Themes
A few days later, Jünger and his men are moved to the village of Flers and subsequently to an enjoyable rest period in Serain. Jünger recalls cheerful reunions with comrades—“among the fondest memories an old warrior may have.” At reunions like these, survivors savor reminiscences over drinks. Jünger observes that veterans embody both “an objective relish for danger” and “a chevalieresque urge to prevail.” Men who have survived the war for this long are bolder than ever.
