Paul's luck appears to change when he is assigned, along with seven others, to guard a deserted village and supply dump. He is pleased to join Kat, Albert, Müller, Tjaden, Detering, and the rest, but mourns that Haie is no longer alive to share their good fortune. These few weeks are the last happy moments in the novel. Billeted in a cellar, Paul and his buddies create an "idyll" by rounding up blankets, a bed, eggs, butter, vegetables, and suckling pigs. With a homemade grater, they shred potatoes, which Paul cooks into cakes. While they are preparing their feast, the chimney smoke draws heavy enemy fire. The men quickly carry their loot to the dugout and spend the afternoon eating, drinking coffee, and smoking cigars; at six thirty, they eat supper. Throughout the night, they suffer diarrhea after gorging themselves on the rich pork and must dash outside to relieve their pained intestines.
For almost three weeks, Paul's group is glad to have a soft job, so they continue to enjoy the good life — eating, drinking, and smoking cigars. Finally, they reluctantly board a transport to the front, bearing with them a four-poster bed, chairs, mattress, blue silk canopy, lace coverlets, as well as sausages, conserves, and cigarettes. They also take with them a kitten they have been feeding. As their column is sent to evacuate a village, Kropp catches a bullet a little above the knee. Paul is wounded in the leg and arm.
