All Quiet on the Western Front Scene 9 Summary

  • The 2nd Company is order to wiring detail out past the graveyard. The new recruits are terrified at the sounds of the shellfire.
  • Kat teaches them what they'll need to know to survive, such as what shelling sounds to pay attention to and when to hit the dirt—things Himmelstoss should have taught them if he hadn't been too busy making them play in the mud.
  • While stringing the barbed wire, the enemy launches a bombardment.
  • A shell explodes in front of Behn, the shrapnel blinding him.
  • Panicked and in pain, Behn runs blindly out of cover and is shot down.
  • Kemmerick runs out to rescue his friend while Kat and the old hands pull the others back.
  • Kemmerick returns with Behn's body, and Kat asks why he did something so foolish. Kemmerick says Behn was his friend.
  • Kat chastises him, "It's a corpse, no matter who it is."