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 and his men are sent back to the front, near the village of Vis-en-Artois. At the end of November, they are summoned to join a counter-offensive and are driven to the castle grounds of Baralle. On the day of the attack, they follow a canal to headquarters, where they learn that the offensive isn’t going so well. At seven sharp the next morning, with butterflies in his stomach, Jünger leads his men to the Siegfried line, and they begin to attack the British trench. Before long, young British soldiers emerge with their hands in the air. Jünger feels joyful as he watches a long line of about 200 men surrendering.
Although the Germans are faltering, the successful attack and surprising capture of such a large group of British is a huge triumph for Jünger.
Themes
When Jünger is led to the British company commander, who is wounded, the man explains that his company was surrounded. This assures Jünger that the commander “was a real man.” They shake hands. Then Jünger, “like an old feudal commander,” allows his men to plunder the British trenches, gathering weapons and provisions, for a few minutes. Jünger himself enjoys some British tobacco and cognac while writing up his reports of the action.
Jünger respects the fact that the British commander didn’t give in until he had no other choice; to him, that’s the height of soldierly fortitude. And despite his disapproval of heavy looting in other circumstances, he thinks his men entitled to a bit of plunder, showing that there’s a gray area in the heat of victory.
Themes
As they are moving forward along the Siegfried Line, there’s some British resistance, so Jünger asks for volunteers to make another attack across the open field. The only volunteer is a Polish man whom Jünger had considered to be a “cretin,” but the comports himself admirably, reminding Jünger that “you can’t say you really know a man if you haven’t seen him under conditions of danger.”
Jünger’s view of “manliness” is displayed again, as a man proves himself under battlefield conditions, disproving Jünger’s earlier assessment of him.
Themes
They face down further British resistance over the course of the next day. Eventually, they’re inspired by a drunken subaltern who’s desperate to get at the “Tommies.” They race toward the British lines, hurling hand-grenades and dodging corpses all the way. They ultimately trap the group of British soldiers in a communications trench and finish them off. In the process, Jünger is grieved to learn that his longtime friend Tebbe has been killed. All in all, Jünger is pleased with the achievement of his 80 men and sustains only minor wounds, for which he refuses hospitalization, allowing them to heal over the Christmas leave. The battle of Cambrai is remembered as an attempt “to break out of the deadly stasis of trench-fighting by new methods.”
In the thick of battle, Jünger is not too discriminating as to what he finds inspiring—drunken belligerence even serves in a pinch, and it works well here, as the Germans make another successful attack. In fact, it’s an advance in the war as a whole, and a further illustration that the war is moving beyond pitched battles and entrenchment as its primary methods and toward more aggressive measures.
Themes
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