Storm of Steel

Jünger and a few others from his regiment are sent to Recouvrence, another French town, for a training course. Here, in a reprieve from the war, Jünger and his fellow soldiers revert to their school-boy ways, drinking and carousing late each evening: “When the various units trickled back from their respective watering-holes in the early hours, the little chalk village houses were treated to the unfamiliar sight of student high jinks” (16-17).

In the afternoons and evenings they enjoy leisurely classes. Although Jünger makes several lasting friendships, he also fears losing his comrades to war: “In mid-February, we of the 73rd felt consternation to hear of heavy losses taken by the regiment at Perthes, and felt desperate to be so far from our comrades at the time” (18). In March, following an exam, Jünger is sent back to his unit, which is then shipped to Belgium. There the soldiers enjoy another small reprieve from the war:

Before long, all of us had struck up our various friendships and relationships, and on our afternoons off we could be seen striding through the countryside, making for this or that farmstead, to take a seat in a sparkling clean kitchen round one of the low stoves, on whose round tops a big pot of coffee was kept going (20).