At the camp on the moors near the Soldiers’ Home, Paul spends a month in retraining. Drill in the autumn air allows him time to enjoy juniper and birch trees and the fine sand underfoot. The joy of the outdoors plus card games and joking with other soldiers helps separate Paul from his thoughts of the inevitable return to the front. The Russian prisoner of war camp which abuts the training camp, forces him to look at a different kind of war victim, who must scavenge trash barrels for potato peelings and meager dregs, and suffer the bloody discharge of dysentery. The apathetic inmates, who look more like “meek, scolded, St. Bernard dogs” than adversaries, inspire his empathy. In exchange for bread, they trade their boots and crude carvings. Peasants tantalize the hungry prisoners by devouring bread and slices of sausage in front of the silent men.
On the last Sunday of his leave, Paul’s father and sister visit him at the Soldiers’ Home and they stroll the moors together. The hours are a torture to Paul because they have no subject to discuss but his mother’s illness. She is now in a charity ward awaiting an operation. Paul’s father is working overtime to try to pay the bills, but he is obviously worried. Paul goes with them to the train and they give him potato-cakes and jam his mother made. He considers giving the food to the Russian prisoners but remembers his mother stood painfully over a stove to cook them; feeling a little less guilty, he shares only two.
