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
Every All Quiet on the Western Front moment featuring Paul Bäumer, in story order. Played by Felix Kammerer.
17 moments · 37 min
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.