In Stahlgewittern

Ernst Jünger's experiences from January 1915 to August 1918 on the Western Front are reflected in "Storm of Steel": from trench warfare in Champagne and the Battle of Cambrai to the storm troop operations in Flanders and finally the awarding of the Pour le Mérite after his injury. "In Steel Storms" made him a hero to a generation of young officers who gave everything and, at best, came away with the Iron Cross. Gide praised it as "the most beautiful war book I have ever read." In fact, it resembles no other book of that time—no trace of the pastoral meditations of Siegfried Sassoon or Edmund Blunden, no hint of cowardice like Hemingway, no masochism like T. E. Lawrence, and no pity like Remarque. Bruce Chatwin.