Storm of SteelThe memoir widely viewed as the best account ever written of fighting in WW1 A memoir of astonishing power, savagery, and ashen lyricism, Storm of Steel illuminates not only the horrors but also the fascination of total war, seen through the eyes of an ordinary German soldier. Young, tough, patriotic, but also disturbingly self-aware, Jünger exulted in the Great War, which he saw not just as a great national conflict but—more importantly—as a unique personal struggle. Leading raiding parties, defending trenches against murderous British incursions, simply enduring as shells tore his comrades apart, Jünger kept testing himself, braced for the death that will mark his failure. Published shortly after the war’s end, Storm of Steel was a worldwide bestseller and can now be rediscovered through Michael Hofmann’s brilliant new translation. For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. |
Contents
In the Chalk Trenches of Champagne | 5 |
From Bazancourt to Hattonchâtel | 16 |
Les Eparges | 23 |
Douchy and Monchy | 34 |
Daily Life in the Trenches | 51 |
The Beginning of the Battle of the Somme | 67 |
Guillemont | 91 |
The Woods of StPierreVaast | 111 |
Langemarck | 156 |
Regniéville | 180 |
Flanders Again | 192 |
The Double Battle of Cambrai | 204 |
At the Cojeul River | 219 |
The Great Battle | 224 |
British Gains | 257 |
My Last Assault | 274 |
Retreat from the Somme | 121 |
In the Village of Fresnoy | 131 |
Against Indian Opposition | 141 |
We Fight Our Way Through | 283 |
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Common terms and phrases
afternoon already artillery attack bandaged barrage batman battalion battle blood bombardment bombs British Brixen bullets Cambrai Captain clouds commander communication trench comrades couple crash crater dark dead Douchy dressing-station dugout earth enemy entrance Ernst Jünger explosions eyes face Favreuil feeling felt field fighting fire flank flare forward foxhole front line Fusilier gave German Guillemont guns hand hand-grenades head heard holes Iron Cross Kius later leaped Les Eparges Lieutenant looked machine-gun marched MICHAEL HOFMANN Monchy morning mortars night o'clock officer once orders patrol picked pistol platoon position pulled Quéant regiment relieved rifle road round sector seemed sentry shell-hole shelter shot shout shrapnel Siegfried Line slope smashed smoke soldiers splinters standing steel helmet stood Storm of Steel suddenly tarpaulin thing told took traverse troops turned village walls wire wood wounded yards