The doctors at the hospital are portrayed as cruel and indifferent to suffering. Paul is operated on because his bones are not growing together. Josef warns him that the doctors love to operate because they have so many human guinea pigs. Eventually, more men die than will fit into the Dying Room. Then, amazingly, Peter returns from the Dying Room in triumph. Paul, overcome by the suffering around him, observes, "A hospital alone shows what war is." Albert's leg has been amputated at the thigh and he spends a great deal of time depressed, not speaking, and he says he would kill himself if given a gun. Once again Paul ponders what they will do after the war, because all they have known is killing.
Paul turns his attention to Johann Lewandowski, a Polish soldier and the oldest patient, who has suffered a serious abdominal wound. Thrilled with a letter from his wife, Marja, he longs to see her and the child who was born during his two-year absence. Propped on a pillow after Marja arrives, Johann and his wife make love while the men play skat; two other men watch for intruders and Albert tends the baby. Remarque compresses much of Paul's convalescence into the closing paragraphs. Soon, Paul returns home on leave and again regrets having to leave his mother. Return to Second Company is less comforting without the presence of Albert, his best friend, who has gone to an institution that fits prosthetic limbs.
