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22104788 No.22104788 [Reply] [Original]

>and then another bullet barely grazed my skull and a shrapnel killed a dude right beside me
>hurt my thigh a little bit, two weeks rest and i was back in the fight
>oh yeah a shell landed on the medical dugout and killed the doctor
>then it happened twenty more times
>such is war

Was he the luckiest retard of all time? He should have been dead like every other page.

>> No.22104932

>>22104788
The last evacuation he had, many people carrying him out of the encerclement died. He literally got injured a lot but never died

>> No.22105018

>>22104788
>Was he the luckiest retard of all time?
How else are you going to survive through war?

>> No.22105021

>>22104788
I mean sure it sounds like he is super lucky but so was everyone else who survived it.

>> No.22105037

>>22104788
Why do people act like this a vadass book about a badass guy who loves war? Is it really like that?

>> No.22105058

>>22104788
The reason I like Storm of Steel is that it emphasizes the randomness of combat. He easily could've been that soldier that got shot square in the forehead, fell into the trenches with blood pouring from his head like a bucket being tipped over, and died after a short bout of agonal breathing that sounds like loud snoring. And Junger obviously recognizes all this and sees in battle something worth talking about.

>> No.22105071

>>22105058
One of the best passages in the book is when they take over some French trenches and the rain is exposing the corpses the Frogs just shoved into the mud walls.

>> No.22105391

>>22105037
Because that's exactly what it is. It's a storm trooper's memoir about their daily activities in no-nonsense, matter-of-fact detail.

>>22105071
This, that shit was brutal and stuck with me.

>> No.22105408

>>22105021
he often went out of his way to face danger though

>> No.22105419

It's weird how we never get memoirs from some dude who got his face blown off in the first ten seconds

>> No.22105427

>>22105419
We do but they're stored in the Akashic Record.

>> No.22105445

>>22105037
He did somehow have a really good time during the war, treating it like as much of a fun and almost whimsical adventure as fighting on the losing side in the ww1 trenches could possibly be.
He doesnt really try hide that a lot of people in the war probably didnt share his disposition but he doesnt go into it either, much like the way its not an introspective natonalist treatise with justifications for the war, its more like an impassive adventure through the western front with laconic descriptions of his daily life, comrades, civillians, enemies and engagements.
I did find him an amusing and almost comically stoic figure myself but what op is saying is something I thought about everytime he had one of his double digit near death moments.

It is above all a must read for everyone regardless of their knowledge of the great war or lack of interest in war in general.

>> No.22105463

>>22105445
Hes not the only one in the memoir with his disposition. There are many moment where the camaraderie is palpable and the boys are out for blood. Even at the end when he's in the hospital with kther wounded. They hurt themselves trying to prove they were ready to go back to the front.

>> No.22105640

>>22105463
One of my favourite scenes, if also one of the more morbid ones, was the time that subaltern officer started up a berserker frenzy. Really channelling that ancient Teutonic blood memory.
The other scene where Junger describes how, in a trance-like state during that great offensive, he narrowly didn't shoot a surrendering Frenchman was also really cool. Although it would've been way less cool if he had actually shot him.

>> No.22105654

>>22105640
Junger really was a lucky dude. He even got to fuck a qt french widow.

>> No.22105663

>>22104788
>war is... le fun!?

>> No.22105699

>>22105663
I dont think he ever even said it was fun. The only time that comes close is when he went on a night raid and captured confused Indian troops that obviously just wanted to go home.

>> No.22105723

>>22104788
Yeah seriously. That one part where he charged through a artillery barrage with 20 men and only 3 of them survived was insane.

>> No.22105747

>>22105463
I wasnt saying that, I was saying he didnt try to make it seem like everyone was having a good time even though he focused on the ones that did as they were his likeminded.

He also made sure to make room for enemy soldiers that seemed to share his mindset like the british commander of the indian regiment with the revolver, a weird and unforgettable part.

>> No.22106411

>>22105391
>>22105445
How do we know that what he was feeling and what he says happened was real? And it wasn't just exaggerated like those fake tough guy martial artists from the 90's? I understand there are some strong people who like war, but wasn't he losing friends and family in the war? Hard to enjoy that.

>> No.22106988

>>22106411
just read it, it's not really bragging so much as german autism

>> No.22107053

>>22106411
He cried when his brother was wounded. There's another emotionally heavy event near the end but I won't spoil it.

>> No.22107091

>>22104788
The part at the end where he gets wounded for the last time has got to be the single most intense experience I've ever heard of in my life. If it was in a work of fiction it would be comically ridiculous

>> No.22107093

>>22105463
For me it's the death of the Englishman who died staring him down with a pipe clenched between his teeth

>> No.22107103

>>22105747
I didn't mean to say you said that. I was just making my own point.