50 pages • 1 hour read
Ernst JungerStorm of Steel
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1920A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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BetaChapter 8Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 8 Summary: “The Woods of St-Pierre-Vaast”
Jünger is almost a month recuperating from his wound. When he returns to his regiment, of which only a handful of men survived the last battle, he is quartered in a cottage in a small village, where he finds out he is to be used as a scouting officer. In November, he travels to “the now entirely depopulated village of Gonnelieu” (114). Every night, he has “to reconnoitre the situation” and heads to the front: “The scene at night was muddy and wild, often with heavy exchanges of artillery. Frequently, yellow rockets were shot off that blew up in the air, and sent a rain of fire cascading down” (114).
The next night Jünger is injured again, shot through both legs by a sniper. While wounded, he loses his way in the woods and barely survives a gas attack. Another night a chance conversation delays Jünger a minute or two, saving his life when the crossroads he would have been entering had he not stopped is blown up. In the hospital recovering, Jünger laments his experiences:“I suffered an attack of the glooms, a contributing factor in which was surely the memory of the cold, slimy landscape where I had been wounded” (117).
Since he is not able to march properly because of his wound, Jünger is given an observation post. Here, he watches the war from high on a hill. In December he rejoins his regiment, and soon after receives the Iron Cross First Class. In January, Jünger takes another company-command course, where he complains about the food, particularly swedes, a type of rutabaga: “[T]hey’re better than they’re crack up to be—so long as they’re roasted with a nice piece of pork, and plenty of black pepper. Which these weren’t” (120).
Chapter 8 Analysis
After a horrendous battle in which most of his regiment is destroyed and Jünger himself is wounded, he recuperates in a small village. There, he walks in on a teenage daughter undressed, and he drinks each night with his comrades, finally feeling like he can “relax a little” (119). Jünger’s reconnaissance missions, however, have him floundering around in the darkness, trying to stay alive—he never recons anything. Twice he saves himself from certain death, after which he receives the Iron Cross, a reward ostensibly for distinguished service, but which seems to be for getting wounded. He is gassed, shot through both legs, and spends time in a hospital that “was presently housing four hundred severe cases. Day after day, a procession of corpses left its portals to a leaden thump of drums. Doctors did their bloody best at a row of operating tables. Here, a limb was amputated, there a skull chipped open” (116).
He also watches the war from an observation post, taking notes like he has been all along, but this time, for once, protected, able to observe the coming and goings without fear of being shot. The chapter serves as a perfect microcosm and metaphor for war: how often armies are floundering around in the darkness, trying to find their way; how often those in war simply watch the world going on around them with no hope of changing anything, only observing, and hoping to stay protected; how the dead are disposed of after their lives have run out; and how often armies are fighting, recovering, fighting again, only to be wounded and forced to recover again, with short stretches of leave thrown in between, where soldiers complain about the food.
