Storm of Steel

Ernst JungerNonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1920

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Themes

Survival in WWI Europe

One of Jünger’s officers, Hambrock, likes to sneak up behind his sentries and fire a flare off to test their battle-readiness. Another, Eisen, walks around festooned with weapons. Both of them are trying to survive. Hambrock wants the sentries to be on constant alert, since early warning might allow them to survive an attack. Eisen looks to protect himself at all times with as many weapons as he can carry.

Survival sits at the heart of much of the action. All battles become a form of survival. Numerous times Jünger sits in a basement or bomb shelter just hoping it doesn’t get hit. Other times he zig-zags across a field while listening to the whistling of artillery, trying to guess their trajectory. Other nights he goes on the offensive to try and take prisoners. All are means of survival. Attacking the enemy, while dangerous, might be less dangerous than waiting for an attack, so it’s a means of proactive survival. Other times there’s no action to take, only to huddle down and hope.

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Survival also shows in smaller ways. When Jünger needs a drink of strong brandy after witnessing men blown apart, it’s another form of survival, this one the survival of his soul. When he toasts friends who have died, it’s a way of surviving without them.

The Discomfort of War

Jünger often describes the conditions of the trenches and how awful they are, especially in the cold or rain. He also describes the fine spring afternoons and the beauty of trees blooming, how easy it is to go into battle on such days because it is hard to imagine death with so much life around him. In contrast to this, Jünger says the cold and wet do more to demoralize soldiers than the bullets and bombs.

He is talking about comfort and how important it is to a soldier. He finds comfort in food, in drink, in a small stove inside his dugout on cold nights. He finds discomfort in the rain and cold, and he is always looking for ways to ease this discomfort, whether by a small fire or by draining the water from the trenches. Every time Jünger is sent to a new place, he describes the conditions: the weather, whether it is hot or cold, raining or snowing. He describes the conditions of where he will be staying, if it’s a nice house with a feather bed, or a small dugout where the ceiling crumbles when bombs hit nearby. The comfort of the men becomes a part of their battle readiness—well-rested and warm makes a better soldier than cold and hungry, which means comfort is also part of survival.

Man’s Nature as Inherently Animalistic

Throughout his account of war on the Western Front, Jünger maintains an emotional detachment that delineates the animalistic nature of man. Instead of focusing on how the grisly events of war—such as his numerous near-death injuries, the violent deaths of his comrades and foes, and the devastating effects of war on civilians—affect him emotionally, Jünger relates his experiences as an observer. In detailing his every day routines, such as what he consumes, where he sleeps, and what his surroundings look like, Jünger focuses on the war through the lens of the primal. He refers to heavy artillery as “beasts of prey”(264), with the prey being the fallen men. It is through this mindset Jünger is able to survive his experiences, both physically and mentally. Yet in doing so, Jünger himself reverts to his animalistic nature. His enemies take shape as animals themselves, which he describes as “vulture-like” or “lizard-like” (98). In turn, he is both a “hunter” and a “quarry” (71), the latter referring to prey, as he stalks and defends against his enemies. The underlying commentary is that war degrades men to animals, forcing them to rely on their primal instincts to survive.