The rapid multitude of lives lost shown in the novel also serves to illustrate the grim realities of war. In just the beginning two weeks of war, only eighty men returned after a massive attack out of a pack of one hundred fifty. Moreover, even more dramatic, Remarque makes note of the fact that on every yard, a dead soldier was found. On the battlefield, flocks of men were "shot down like hares by the airmen (130)," which amounted to the collection of dead bodies in No Man's Land, the boundary where neither military controlled. In fact, the dead accumulated to such a great extent that even rats inhabiting the area grew fat, illustrating the violent effects of the meat grinder war. In the end, all the main characters dies, which represents the death of a generation of men. Consequently, Remarque describes war as "the cause of death like cancer, tuberculosis, influenza and dysentery (271)," making death frequent, varied and terrible.
             Unlike prior wars, the technological advancements of World War I, with the introduction of new and powerful military weapons, made the unprecedented bloodshed and massacres inevitable. Recurrent activities in the trenches included "dry bursts of machine guns (59)," surprise gas attacks, shrapnel and high explosives dropped from battle airplanes above. Moreover, bombardments, barrages, curtain-fires, mines, tanks, hand-grenades mostly characterized the bloody war. Events happened rapidly after another, creating no time for the soldiers to respond at all. One moment a "shell [would] crash (214)," which would be followed by "machine gun rattles" and rockets shooting up in the air. Hence, during times of bombardment, the atmosphere became so intense that soldiers actually defecated in their pants as depicted with the new recruiters.
             Making quick victories impossible, World War I was based on trench warfare, involving prolonged and indirect fighting...