Storm of Steel

Despite being the writer of the memoir, Jünger offers little information about himself. The Introduction to the 2004 Penguin edition of the book says Jünger is 19 when the detrains on December 27, 1914; that Jünger volunteers on August 1, the first day of the war, with only a couple of months’ training; and that he rushes to leave school to volunteer. The reader knows from the book that Jünger has a brother, also a soldier, and a father, who, when Jünger is on furlough, suggests he become an officer.

As the Introduction relates: “War is all—fighting is all—everything else is cropped away” (viii). There are very few scenes away from battle, and those usually are of Jünger recovering from a wound or resting for a few days before fighting again. The action then becomes how the reader gets to know Jünger: how he reacts poorly in his first battle, and how he changes over time to a man who refuses to take cover from artillery unless a shell is coming close. The narrative also delineates how he becomes resigned to death, knowing it could happen at any moment, but still relishes the small comforts of food or drink or remembering fallen friends.

The only inner thoughts offered by Jünger are concern for his men, a few thoughts here and there on fear, and a handful of reflections on death. Jünger’s concern for his men shows him to be a capable leader, confirmed when he mentions, throughout the course of the book, how his men see him favorably. This is particularly evident in the last chapter when several men are killed carrying Jünger out of the fray of a deadly battle. Those who live visit him in hospital and cheer when he returns.

His thoughts on fear show how he is affected by it and how, eventually, he gets used to even the fear of death. Despite this acceptance, he still feels forlorn when seeing the dead piled up on the battlefield. Jünger does not comment on the waste of life, but his thoughts become apparent when he makes statements such as “[a] persistent smell of carrion hung over the conquered territory, sometimes unbearable, sometimes not so bad, but always nettling the senses like an embassy from another country” (258). Death, then, nettles the senses, and despite being a soldier who strips away all but battle from his book, he shows that he does not like the outcome of battle: death and destruction.