A group of new recruits comes to reinforce the company, and Paul's friend Kat cooks a beef and bean stew that impresses them. Kat says that if all men in an army, including officers, received the same pay and food, wars would stop immediately. Kropp, another former classmate of Paul's, says there should be no armies; he argues that a nation's leaders should instead fight their disagreements with clubs. They discuss how petty and insignificant people become powerful and arrogant during war, and Tjaden, a member of Paul's company, announces that the cruel Corporal Himmelstoss has come to fight at the front. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay At night, the men go on a harrowing mission to lay barbed wire out front. Shelled by artillery, they hid in a cemetery, where the force of the bombardments caused buried corpses to rise from their graves, while groups of living men fell dead around them. After this horrible event, the surviving soldiers return to their camp, where they kill the lice and think about what they will do when the war ends. Some men have tentative plans, but all seem to think the war will never end. Paul fears that if the war ends, he won't know what to do with himself. Himmelstoss arrives at the front; when the men see him, Tjaden insults him. The lieutenant of the men inflicts light punishments on them but also lectures Himmelstoss on the futility of saluting at the front. Paul and Kat find a house with a goose and roast the goose for dinner, enjoying a nice rare meal. The company is caught in a bloody battle with a group of allied infantrymen in charge. Men are destroyed, limbs are severed from the torso and giant rats attack the dead and wounded. Paul believes he must become an animal in battle, trusting only his instincts to keep him alive. After the battle, only thirty-two men out of eighty were still alive. The men are given a short reprieve in a field depot. Paul and some of his friends go swimming, which ends with a date with a group of French girls. Paul desperately wants to regain his innocence with a girl, but he feels that this is impossible for him. Paul gets seventeen days off and returns home to see his family. He feels uncomfortable and oppressed in his hometown, unable to talk about his traumatic experiences with anyone. He learns that his mother is dying of cancer and that Kantorek has been conscripted as a soldier, from which he derives a certain cold satisfaction. He visits Kemmerich's mother and tells her, untruthfully, that her son's death was instantaneous and painless. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized paper now from our expert writers. Get a Custom Essay At the end of his leave, Paul spends some time in a training camp near a group of Russian prisoners of war. Paul believes that Russians are people like him, not subhuman enemies, and wonders how war can make enemies of people who have no grudges against each other..