Tells the story of Paul B̈äumer, a soldier who joined the German army shortly after the start of World War I. B̈äumer arrives at the Western front with his friends and meets Stanislaus Katczinsky, an older soldier, nicknamed Kat, who becomes Paul's mentor. Tells of the conditions in which the soldiers find themselves -- the brutality of war. The monotony between battles, the constant threat of artillery fire, the struggle to find food, and the overarching role of random chance in the lives and deaths of the soldiers are described in detail.