The Principal sends the iron youth of Germany to war
A schoolmaster's rousing speech promises the boys glory, iron crosses and a march on Paris within weeks.
Paul Bäumer's Best Moments
Every All Quiet on the Western Front moment featuring Paul Bäumer, in story order. Played by Felix Kammerer.
17 moments · 37 min · by Favseen
- 01
- 02
The recruits sing a love song on the ride to the front
Paul and his schoolmates tease each other and sing about a girl who must wait a year, still treating war as an adventure.
- 03
First gas alarm on the march: fat pigs don't carry gas
A shell scare sends the new recruits scrambling for masks, and Paul is singled out and punished for fumbling his.
- 04
Ludwig breaks down in the bunker under a creeping barrage
Shelled in a dark bunker, Ludwig begs to go home while a veteran explains how the barrage walks toward them.
- 05
Paul and Kat steal a goose from a French farm
Eighteen months on, Kat leads Paul on a raid for food and they flee an angry farmer with the bird.
- 06
Goose feast, a rowdy song and Tjaden's Nazareth joke
The squad shares the stolen goose, sings about it, and laughs at Tjaden's school story about his father.
- 07
Paul reads Kat his wife's letter and learns of his son
Kat cannot read, so Paul reads his wife's letter aloud and discovers Kat lost a child; then wonders how they'll ever go home.
- 08
The search for missing recruits ends in a gassed trench
Sent to find sixty new boys, the squad uncovers a dugout full of recruits who removed their masks too early.
- 09
Albert is shot surrendering as Paul flees the line
Albert's surrender ends in gunfire, and a shattered Paul retreats realising he has left Franz behind.
- 10
Paul begs forgiveness from the Frenchman he stabbed
Trapped in a shell crater with the dying French soldier he stabbed, Paul tries to save him and learns his name and trade.
- 11
Tjaden turns a fork on himself rather than lose his leg
Paul and Kat bring soup to the wounded Tjaden, who uses the cutlery to end his own life.
- 12
Kat by the fire: I'm a pair of boots with a rifle
Paul confesses his mother warned him off the war; Kat calls it a fever nobody asked for and tells him they are the lucky ones.
- 13
Kat plans Christmas and orders Paul to university
Hearing the war is over, Kat dreams of roast goose and children, and insists Paul make something of his schooling.
- 14
Wounded Kat finds the rhyme: rifle with trifle
Shot by the farmer's son, Kat jokes about his school days and a rhyme as Paul carries him to find a medic.
- 15
The medic tells Paul that Kat is already dead
Paul insists Kat is only unconscious until the medic shows him otherwise: bad luck, right before the end.
- 16
Friedrichs orders one last attack before eleven
On armistice morning the general demands a final strike to seize Latierre, and a refusing soldier is shot.
- 17
The final charge until the 11 o'clock ceasefire
Paul is thrown into a desperate last charge in the war's final minutes until the cease-fire call finally rings out.