All Quiet on the Western Front

The law of survival: Food, tobacco and dry foot wraps are more important than politics and the orders of generals. Mutual assistance: They don't abandon their wounded under fire, even if it's mortally dangerous. Sharing the last piece of bread. Attitude towards the enemy: The French ("Frenchmen") are mortal enemies in battle, but in pauses or in captivity they are the same unfortunate workers and peasants who have been fooled, the same as the rest of the Germans and other people.

GERMANY:

Uniform: A cloth tunic and trousers in a khaki color called feldgrau (gray-green). It perfectly camouflages the soldier against the ground and grass. Heavy leather marching boots are worn. Headgear: The famous Pickelhaube (Pickelhaube) is a pointed helmet made of patent leather with a copper spike on the crown. In the field, it is covered with a gray cloth cover to prevent the copper from glinting in the sun. Disadvantages: Leather does not protect against bullets and shrapnel. The copper spike often protrudes from the trench, revealing the soldier's position to enemy snipers. Equipment: A leather belt with a massive buckle (stamped with "Gott mit uns" - "God is with us"). Leather ammunition pouches, a bread bag, a canteen, and a sapper's shovel hang from the belt. A heavy knapsack made of calfskin, with the hair on the outside, is carried on the back. The situation on the Marne: After hundreds of kilometers of marching on foot, the uniforms are covered in road dust and dirt, the boots are worn out, and the soldiers' moustaches and beards are clogged with gunpowder smoke.

FRANCE:

Uniform (Major Nightmare): French infantrymen ("poilu") are dressed in 19th-century fashion. They wear bright red (scarlet) trousers and long dark blue greatcoats. Uniform Drawback: The red trousers make French soldiers perfect full-length targets. German machine gunners can spot them from miles away against the green French fields. Because of this, the French suffer colossal losses in the first weeks. Headgear: A blue and red cloth cap. No head protection; bullets easily penetrate the fabric. (They wouldn't get the famous Adrian steel helmets until 1915.) Equipment: A black leather vest with ammo pouches. A long, needle-point bayonet is worn on the belt. A huge, overloaded knapsack is carried on the back, making the soldiers appear hunched. French greatcoats are often buttoned back at the corners to make it easier to charge. The situation on the Marne: Brightly colored coats and trousers quickly become soaked with mud, blood, and clay, causing the French to gradually lose their "dress" appearance and begin to look like ragged, embittered vagabonds.

Important limitation: In September 1914, the army has NO helmets (soldiers fight in leather pickelhaubes with cones), NO gas masks (gas is not yet in use), and NO flamethrowers.

WEAPONS OF THE GERMAN ARMY

Rifles: The Mauser 98 is the infantry's primary weapon. Heavy, accurate, bolt-action, with a 5-round magazine. This is the rifle the Protagonist carries. Soldiers protect it from dirt more than they protect their own lives. Pistols: Mauser C96, Luger P08 - used only by officers, assault teams or machine gun crews. Machine guns: MG 08 – a heavy, water-cooled machine gun. It is deployed in trenches at fortified positions. It mows down hundreds of advancing infantry, producing a distinctive "crackling" sound. Bladed weapons: Bayonet. But at the front, veterans sharpen entrenching shovels—in close trench combat, they're far more effective than bayonets. Grenades: Stielhandgranate (the famous German "smashers" with wooden handles). In 1914, they were still in short supply, and soldiers rarely used them.

WEAPONS OF THE FRENCH ARMY Rifles: The Lebel M1886 (Lebel rifle) is the primary weapon of the French infantry. It has a tubular magazine that holds 8 rounds. It is longer than the German Mauser, making it extremely inconvenient in tight trenches, but very accurate at range. Bayonets: The Lebel rifle is fitted with the famous long, needle-pointed "Rosalie" bayonet. The French often resort to ferocious bayonet charges, terrifying new recruits. Machine guns: St. Étienne M1907 and Puteaux M1905 – heavy heavy machine guns of the French. German soldiers fear their dense fire when storming enemy trenches. Artillery: The 75mm field gun (Canon de 75 mle 1897) is the main character's nightmare in the trenches. It has a blistering rate of fire. It showers German positions with a hail of shrapnel that's impossible to escape. Soldiers call it the "mitrailleuse" or the "devil's gun."

The gist: The German army was rapidly advancing on Paris, but was exhausted. The French brought in reinforcements (including via the famous Parisian taxis) and attacked the flank.

Intensity: Continuous, hurricane-force artillery fire. German attempts to gain a foothold in open terrain.

Result: German troops are forced to retreat across the Aisne River. The "blitzkrieg" (lightning war) plan has completely failed. A stalemate ensues.

Landscape: Initially picturesque French fields, copses and villages, which before your eyes transform into a lunar landscape.

Trenches: The first lines of trenches from the late summer of 1914 are still shallow, hastily dug in clay and earth. These aren't the concrete bunkers of the late war, but damp ditches washed away by rain. The water is ankle-deep.

Style: Rough, down-to-earth, trench realism. No pathos or bravado.

Life: Constant dirt, lice, carrion-eating rats (at the front they are called “fat as pigs”), damp dugouts, the stench of rotting bodies and bleach.

Psychology: "The Lost Generation." Soldiers feel emotionally dead outside of war. The only salvation is black humor, cynicism, and fatalism.

Death: Mundane and absurd. A soldier can be killed by a stray piece of shrapnel, anywhere, under any circumstances.