Storm of Steel

In mid-April 1916, Jünger attends an officer-training course in which he receives instruction in such subjects as tactical excursions on horseback. One evening, he enjoys a pleasant dinner in the home of a spirited 17-year-old girl whom he nicknames “Jeanne d’Arc.” Not long after, in June, he’s sent back to his unit with the warning that their opponents are preparing a large-scale offensive on the Western Front—what would become known as the Battle of the Somme.

Jünger explains that the Battle of the Somme “marked the end of the first and mildest part of the war.” After the Somme, the war entered an altogether different phase—one marked by a shift from pitched battles to “a war of matériel of the most gigantic proportions.” That war, in its turn, would shift, by 1917, to mechanized warfare.

In Jünger’s absence, the British had become livelier, so on the night of June 20th, Jünger leads a highly tense group to eavesdrop on the enemy trenches, a mission which returns unscathed. The next night, they decide to try to take a British soldier captive, but this time the British note their presence, and they’re forced to scurry back amid heavy fire. The next couple of days are filled with an exchange of mortar fire between the two sides. When the company is relieved, Jünger watches the battle from the safety of Monchy and observes, for the first time, artillery fire that resembles heavy thunder and lightning.

The following day, Jünger is back at C Sector when a gas attack hits. Jünger soon finds himself enveloped in chlorine gas, but quickly removes his gas mask because he’s too breathless for the mask to supply enough oxygen, and the goggles have misted over. He makes it into Monchy, which is under an artillery barrage, and joins two men from his unit, who’ve started a bonfire to escape the effects of the chlorine. Soon, though, shells, bombs, and shrapnel start raining on the village, and Jünger finds himself huddled in a hole in the ground—an experience he likens to being “securely tied to a post, being menaced by a man swinging a heavy hammer.” That night, there is another gas attack, forcing the men to start acrid fires in their quarters. The next day, plants have withered, many small animals are dead, and the bits of shells and ammunition littering the ground have turned green. In the next few days, several men die from the terrible effects of chlorine gas, teaching Jünger never to go without his mask again.

The next morning, the British launch a phosgene gas attack and then attempt to invade C Sector. The British get one wounded German captive, and the Germans seize one handsome young British man, whom they treat to a glass of wine. Studying him, Jünger thinks, “What a shame to have to shoot at such people!” Overall, while the British attack kills more than 40 Germans, they only get a single prisoner and lose many men themselves. It’s a win overall for the Germans, who celebrate the following evening in Douchy.

In late July, Jünger leads some of his men on a patrol toward British lines, and they narrowly escape with their lives, once again having failed to secure a British captive. That night, Jünger is unable to sleep, feeling a “supreme awakeness” in the aftermath of the intense experience. Summing up such events, Jünger remarks that they were worthwhile, even if unsuccessful in their objectives, because “there’s nothing worse for a soldier than boredom.”

In August, Jünger gets his first home furlough, but he’s almost immediately summoned back to the front. He is greeted by the news that the men in his platoon have been asking for him. This cheers him, as he realizes that the young men not only respect his rank, but his character. As he drinks coffee with fellow officers that night, he senses that they are on the cusp of a battle unlike anything the world has seen before, and that they will be called upon to fight to the last man.