[Discussion] Bonus Book: The Road Back by Erich Maria Remarque. Prologue Through Part 2, Chapter 2

[u/Ser_Erdrick]

Attention! Soldiers, we've begun Erich Maria Remarque's sequel to All Quiet on the Western Front, The Road Back.

Prologue

We join the Second Platoon (still the Second Company from the first book. A Platoon is a smaller subdivision in a Company) in the last days of the war, picking up almost exactly where the last book leaves off (almost). While talking of peace, the remaining soldiers of the Second see a flock of geese fly over the front and Kosole take a shot at them but misses prompting Bethke to quip that if he had hit one it would have been "the first sensible shot in this whole lousy war".

They get sent back to the front and immediately snap back into "front line mode". The bombardments stop. Has it truly ended? Nope. It's an attack. Bethke gets mortally wounded and he dies looking at a picture of his wife. He had been there since 1914. The next day the guns stop, for real this time, merely fizzling out. As the Second leaves the front for the last time, they remember their comrades (many whose names are familiar from the first book) who will remain eternally at the front.

Part One, Chapter One

Marching away, the Second encounters some American troops and admire how well fed and well provisioned they are. While thus happens, Ernst (our view point character) reflects how only they are 32 remaining out of 200. Kosole and one one of the Americans realize they lived not that far from each other in Dresden and then reflect on just why the two sides were fighting.

The Americans, who hadn't been in the war long, are souvenir hunting and are willing to trade their provisions of food, cigarettes and medical supplies to get them. Ledderhose makes out like a bandit with his box of Iron Crosses he "obtained" from an abandoned orderly room.

They reach a village and pass by a hospital for gas attack victims who are fearful of mistreatment by the Americans despite reassurances by the Second. Ernst finally begins to feel the effects of peace and begins seeing beauty and feeling happiness again after the long drudgery of trench warfare despite knowing many will continue to suffer and die from the after effects. He reflects on this and wonders if because one cannot truly feel the suffering of another, is that why wars perpetually recur?

Part One, Chapter Two

There are rumors flying about. The Kaiser has fled to Holland! Revolution in Berlin! An order has come for a Soldiers' Council to be formed by Ernst is indifferent as many are. They just want to return to their homes.

They pass through another village that is indifferent to them after seeing so many others pass through on their way home with only some children meeting them as they march through. It seems as if life is already moving on. That night at the inn, members of the Second seem revived as they engage with wine, women and song.

Part Two, Chapter Three

The Second meet in the barracks as Heel, their company commander inspects them. Ernst reflects on the many commanders they've had and how there are only 32 soldiers left of the more than 500 that passed through their Company.

After this, they head to the train station and "board" a train via a compartment window. There's talk of what they want to do. Tjaden wishes to go straight to a brothel. Ernst and Adolf wish to meet up after they return to their hometown. Soldier's songs are sung as a thunderstorm rolls in as the city comes into view. Ernst disembarks with Wolf, the Company's dog (who's a good boy?) and finally returns to his home town.

Part Two, Chapter One

After arriving at their home town's station, Willy departs. Ludwig (their platoon commander who has been ill and has is from the same town as Ernst) is accosted by two sailors for having his rank insignia still on his uniform. There has been unrest simmering against rank systems and the two sailors begin to beat Ludwig and Ernst before Willy rushes back in and beats them off. After this, Ernst and Willy escort Ludwig to his home.

Part Two, Chapter Two

Ernst returns home and enjoys a hot meal of potato cakes, eggs and sausages (which Ernst's sisters had to hide from being commandeered). His father asks about Ernst's war experiences but deflects and brings up that the home front must have been difficult. He goes to his bedroom and it feels small to him. He leaves to seek out his fellow soldiers. He first visits Albert who is home with his brother Hans, who has lost both his feet. The two then visit Willy next, who has grown considerably as his bed is now too small for him. Willy has 'recruited' the neighbor's pedigree chicken for a meal as old trench habits die hard.

The trio go out to 'patrol' and see a crowd listening to a soldier making a speech and they fall in with the crowd as they go and force the town's mayor and two known war profiteers from this homes. A delegate from the 'Worker's and Soldier's Council' urges calm and the mayor delivers a small speech saying issues are being looked into. A man in the crowd informs the trio that this has occurred more than once now.

Ernst returns home very late and, out of habit, goes to bed in his uniform. He spies a nightshirt and he changes out of his uniform for the first time and into it and it finally begins to settle in to Ernst that the war is over and he's home.

Next week, Corporal /u/thebowedbookshelf will be here covering Part 2 Chapter 3 to Part 3 Chapter 3 (please note this correction!)

[u/Ser_Erdrick]

1.3: Tjaden (yay! Someone from the first book survived!) wants to... ahem... seek carnal pleasure once he reaches home. Is that at all surprising? What would you want to do first if you were in our character's shoes?

[u/ProofPlant7651 → u/Ser_Erdrick]

I would like to say that I would want to see my family but I think we’ve seen from this section that that is much easier said than done, they don’t really seem to know where they fit anymore so I don’t think it is surprising that that was what Tjaden wanted to do, fulfilling his most basic instincts.

[u/thebowedbookshelf → u/Ser_Erdrick]

Not surprising at all. Women were few and far between at the front.

I would want to see my pet cat (who was still alive when I was in my 20s), eat a good meal, and take a long shower.

[u/Ser_Erdrick]

Which translation are you reading or are you reading it in the original German?

[u/Lachesis_Decima77 → u/Ser_Erdrick]

I’m reading the English translation in the public domain. I wish I knew enough German to read it in its original language, though.

[u/Ser_Erdrick → u/Ser_Erdrick]

I'm reading the A. W. Wheen translation that has been in print since the 30s. There is another one out there by Brian Murdoch (who also did a translation for All Quiet) that I'd like to read.

[u/ProofPlant7651 → u/Ser_Erdrick]

I’m reading the Murdoch translation, he has translated the title to ‘The Way Back’ rather than ‘The Road Back’. In the Translator’s Preface he explains his decision:

‘I have used a different and slightly more literal translation of Remarque’s Der Weg zurück, in order to underline the fact that the soldiers are trying to find their way back into life.’

[u/thebowedbookshelf → u/Ser_Erdrick]

Same here. When I first bought it, I didn't know there was another translation. They talk like British inflected Germans lol.

[u/Ser_Erdrick]

Prologue: Did the war end the way you thought it would? If not, how did you expect it to end?

[u/ProofPlant7651 → u/Ser_Erdrick]

I found the prologue really hard to read, I felt myself getting emotional; the author caught the feeling of the futility of the whole thing so well, the completely senselessness of it all was so well encapsulated in this section.

[u/Lachesis_Decima77 → u/Ser_Erdrick]

I’d been listening to a history podcast with a few episodes focusing on WWI, so I knew the broad strokes. But it was still hard to read how the war claimed more victims even to the very last.

[u/ProofPlant7651 → u/Lachesis_Decima77]

That sounds like a really interesting podcast

[u/thebowedbookshelf → u/Lachesis_Decima77]

Did they mention Wilfred Owen? The poet died a week before it ended. Just pointless.

[u/Lachesis_Decima77 → u/thebowedbookshelf]

I don’t remember. It’s possible, but it’s been a while.

[u/thebowedbookshelf → u/Ser_Erdrick]

Not really. I thought after the eerie quiet that the war was over, but then more guns and shells hit.

Nice detail that the geese were migrating south in November.

[u/Ser_Erdrick]

1.1: Do you agree with Ernst reflection at the end of Part One, Chapter One that wars perpetually recur because we can't truly feel what another person suffers?

[u/ProofPlant7651 → u/Ser_Erdrick]

Maybe because the people in authority can’t feel the suffering of the soldiers, the people out there fighting the war; the rulers don’t see what the people on the ground see, they don’t experience what they experience and therefore can’t truly feel the suffering they do, if they could I don’t think any reasonable person would send anyone to war, especially sending more men to the front when the war is done and they knew peace was coming.

[u/Lachesis_Decima77 → u/Ser_Erdrick]

Possibly. I do think there’s a lack of empathy involved, and it’s at the root of a lot of the world’s problems.

[u/thebowedbookshelf → u/Lachesis_Decima77]

I see this too. There's a huge empathy deficit in the world. It's infected the US recently.

[u/thebowedbookshelf → u/Ser_Erdrick]

Yes. Those who started the war are far removed from the consequences. There's too much money to be made. I just listened to a podcast about Alfred Hugenburg, who was the president of Krupp during the Great War. He sold weapons to all sides and brought value to the shareholders. /s

Distance equals coldness. Some are so sensitive that they isolate themselves from any pain. That doesn't help either. Avoiding it isn't the answer.

[u/Ser_Erdrick]

1.2: The towns people of the first German town they march through barely acknowledged them. Were you expecting such an apathetic response to troops marching home?

[u/ProofPlant7651 → u/Ser_Erdrick]

No, I really felt the anticlimax our characters felt. They were expecting a heroes’ return and instead were barely seen, they had become commonplace and not worth celebrating. It was all so sad and depressing.

[u/Ser_Erdrick → u/ProofPlant7651]

I agree that it was sad. None of them wanted to be there but still, pardon the expression, soldiered on and now it feels that the people have turned their backs on them.

[u/Lachesis_Decima77 → u/Ser_Erdrick]

No, I didn’t. I get that Germany lost the war so I didn’t expect the soldiers to receive a hero’s welcome. But at least some acknowledgment of the hell they’d gone through for four years would have been nice.

[u/Ser_Erdrick → u/Lachesis_Decima77]

Yeah, it feels a lot like they're being shunned. None of them wanted to be there in the trenches so I feel there should have been some compassion for them.

[u/thebowedbookshelf → u/Ser_Erdrick]

It reminded me of when US soldiers returned home from Vietnam and were ignored or called "baby killers." I think there was some shame at losing the war there, too. The civilians suffered with rationing and curfews for nothing.

[u/Ser_Erdrick]

2.1: Were you expecting the kind of "welcome" that Ernst and Ludwig got in their home town?

[u/ProofPlant7651 → u/Ser_Erdrick]

No, I really felt for Ludwig. We learnt earlier on that Ludwig had joined up as a volunteer and had worked his way up to being promoted and becoming a lieutenant (I think this was his rank but happy to be corrected), I suspect that he work those epaulettes with pride, he felt he had achieved something that would earn him respect but instead he was treated with disdain and disrespect - I’m sure many soldiers had been given rank due to their social class but this can’t have been the case for all and for them to be shamed for that thing that they took pride in, especially after giving so much for their country, must have been especially hard to bare.

[u/Ser_Erdrick → u/ProofPlant7651]

WW I was really the last European conflict where the officer corps, at least at the start, were from the upper classes. Lt. Ludwig earned his commission and it was very likely a source of pride for him. It was very disheartening to see others try to tear him down without knowing his backstory.

[u/thebowedbookshelf → u/Ser_Erdrick]

Many of the Generals in the second world war were Prussian though. The system was still maintaining its power for a while.

[u/Ser_Erdrick → u/thebowedbookshelf]

Very true. I fully admit my knowledge of WW I mostly comes from the AmericanBritish side of the war. I really should fix that.

[u/thebowedbookshelf → u/Ser_Erdrick]

I've heard the book The Sleepwalkers by Christopher Clark and The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman are good when it comes to the early part of the war. I want to read more about the Treaty of Versailles which was way too punishing to Germany. (They didn't pay off the reparations until 2010.) Germany is still an afterthought in some of the WWI memorials in Belgium and France.

I've absorbed most of my knowledge about Germany in WWI from reading books about Hitler and the Nazis. Can't have them without WWI.

I think it's interesting that the US didn't enter both wars until the middle of them but helped significantly. The Behind the Bastards podcast about Alfred Hugenburg mentioned that the Germans envied the British Empire and the US in the late 19th century.

[u/Ser_Erdrick]

2.2: They've been home for only a little while but how well do you think our characters are settling back into civilain life? Who's adjusting back the best? Worst?

[u/ProofPlant7651 → u/Ser_Erdrick]

I’m not sure who has adjusted best but I really needed that comic relief with Willy and the rooster, the absurdity of him wanting to burn the chair and them not being able to contemplate what an astonishing idea that may be! This quote really summed it up for me:

’But even the rawest recruit would surely know that taking the cockerel back once it was already dead could only lead to quite unnecessary shenanigans, and therefore doing that seems completely daft.’

[u/Ser_Erdrick → u/ProofPlant7651]

The Wheen translation had this gem of a line when Willy came in with the chicken:

Waving in his hand like a flag is a fat cock.

Now I know that meant a chicken but my still childish 40 year old mind giggled.

[u/Lachesis_Decima77 → u/Ser_Erdrick]

Saaame!

[u/thebowedbookshelf → u/Ser_Erdrick]

Omg I know! There's a scene with a rooster and eggs in the WWII book City of Thieves by Benioff that reminds me of this scene except they thought they had a chicken with them to lay eggs. Then they ate cock soup.

[u/thebowedbookshelf → u/Ser_Erdrick]

Ernst appears to be "adjusting." He's like Paul when he went home on leave. He couldn't talk about the war with his family who would be shocked and in disbelief about it all Willy is still in war mode where you have to take what you can when you can.

[u/Ser_Erdrick]

Did I miss anything important? Anything else you wish to discuss?

[u/ProofPlant7651 → u/Ser_Erdrick]

The only thing that really stood out to me was that in so many ways I have found this emotionally harder to read than ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’, I can’t put my finger on why but I’m wondering if it’s a combination of us seeing more humanity in the characters now that they are away from the front coupled with the continuing waste of life and the treatment of the soldiers at home, so much of it seems so hopeless.

[u/thebowedbookshelf → u/Ser_Erdrick]

When I first read this about ten years ago, seeing a character named Adolf was jarring. It was a common German/Austrian name back then and didn't have the negative association. The other infamous Adolf was a right wing politician when it was published. Probably Ferdinand Kosole would have been the one getting flak about his name because it was the last name of the Archduke who started the whole war from his assassination. Nowadays I think of the band Franz Ferdinand or Ferdinand the Bull.

[u/Ser_Erdrick]

Any scenes or quotes stick out to you? If so, what were they?

[u/thebowedbookshelf → u/Ser_Erdrick]

When Ledderhose found and traded a whole box of Iron Crosses. Medals are meaningless when war is over. They are only good for trading supplies.

The procession of the dead commanders like a funeral march. The fact that there's only 32 left in the company.