The Second Company is assigned to the task of laying wire at the front. Everyone crowds into trucks. The drivers do not risk using light, so the trucks often lurch when they hit deep holes in the road. No one minds that they are often nearly thrown from them. A broken bone means they will not have to fight until it mends again. They pass a house, and Paul detects the cackle of geese. He and Kat agree to make a surreptitious visit later.

The sound of gunfire and shells fills the air. The veteran fighters are not gripped with fear like the new recruits. Kat explains to the recruits how to distinguish which guns are firing by listening to the blasts. He announces that he senses there will be a bombardment later in the night. The English batteries have begun firing an hour earlier than usual. The experienced soldiers change "imperceptibly." In the roar of guns and the whistling of shells, their senses sharpen.

Paul regards the front as a "mysterious whirlpool." Already, he feels its pull. For the soldier, the earth takes on a new significance. He buries his body in it for shelter. It receives him every time he throws himself down in a fold, furrow, or hollow. Often

The recruit's first trip to the front is a test of fire. If he cannot immediately shed his illusions about the war, and the useless elaborate drills of the training camp, he either goes mad or dies. His training camp can do nothing to prepare him for the front. The real training begins with gaining experience on the front. He must learn to cope with constant fear, uncertainty, bombardment, and violence by becoming a "human animal."

They hear the wrenching sounds of wounded horses. Detering is particularly horrified because he is a farmer and he loves horses. After the wounded men are gathered, those in charge of the job shoot the wounded animals. Detering declares with disgust that using horses in war is the "vilest baseness."

In the early days of poison gas, there was a delay between its introduction and the development of a mask to protect soldiers against it. Before then, they could do nothing other than flee the poisonous cloud. Snipers from the other side could pick them off as they fled the trenches. Because gas was a new weapon, soldiers learned how to avoid injury and death only through experience. Masks were only part of this endeavor. They learned that gas lingered in the shell holes and trenches longer only after seeing others make the mistake of removing their masks too soon.

Later, Paul climbs out and notes that one man not wearing his mask does not collapse. He tears his mask off and gulps fresh air. The shelling has stopped. Paul notices a recruit lying on the ground with his thigh a mass of flesh and bone splinters at the joint. It is the recruit who defecated in his pants earlier. Kat and Paul know that he will not survive his wounds. Kat whispers that it will be more merciful to end his life with a gunshot before the agony of his wound begins to torment him. They are not able to complete their plan because other people are emerging from their holes.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Summary Company, Commentary War, Hague Convention, Kat Kropp, Kat Paul, War Germany, World War, Front Chapter, chlorine gas, lay wire, poison gas, coughing blood clots, defecated pants, animal instinct, torment able, blood clots, flash light, coughing blood, training camp,
Approximate Word count = 1480
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)