Chapter 6 and Albert Kropp

Chapter 6

In chapter 6 the 2nd Company returns to the front a few days early. On their way they pass by a schoolhouse that was destroyed. When they reach the front lines they discover that the enemy has strengthened their lines and their gun barrels are wearing down. Paul talks about how he had left one trench to visit some friends and when he returned to his original trench he saw that it was completely destroyed, so he went back to the other trench only to see that it too caved in. Food starts to become scarce and attempts to bring more food to the troops fail, rats begin to eat their rations as well. Morale is low and some new recruits try to leave. Some of the people in the Company restrain them, one escapes but before he can be brought back he is hit by a shell and dies. As the battle continues people on both sides of the fight are dying. Paul figures many of the new recruits in the death toll as they do not know much about fighting and die faster than those who are more experienced. Paul finds Himmelstoss in a trench and tries to force him out of it to press forward. Himmelstoss resists until a lieutenant comes and orders them both out. They find some new recruits and try to teach them tricks to stay alive, and when the fight continues the recruits do everything wrong and die. Haie dies along with them. When the 2nd Company retreats to the back only 32 of the original 150 are still alive.

Albert Kropp

Albert is one of Paul’s old classmates who is in the Second Company. Albert is an intelligent, speculative young man, and is described as having the clearest head of the group. Albert is of Paul’s closest friends during the war. Near the end of the novel he has an amputation. He contemplates suicide because of the amputation, but the novel seems to suggest that he does not due to the camaraderie he has with those in the military.  He analyzes the causes of the war, which leads to many of the most critical antiwar sentiments throughout the novel.