While the night is lit up by the bombardment, Paul's detail goes about its task, pushing in iron stakes and stringing barbed wire at regular intervals. They finish long before the lorries return. Even though he is cold, Paul falls asleep for a while but awakens with a jolt. Kat calms him and ominously predicts a barrage. As incoming artillery begins, soldiers cry out and run for cover. Paul tries to console a young recruit, holding him in his arms as the rookie cries and shakes. It is a nightmare: Between explosions, cries of the wounded soldiers are heard and these are joined by the screaming of wounded horses. Detering is angered by the plight of the horses, but Kat explains that the other soldiers must help the men first. Not to be stopped, Detering aims his gun to shoot the distant horses, but Kat stops him before he shoots another soldier by mistake. Then they hear the horses being shot and Detering is upset that horses are used at all in war.
At three o'clock the next morning, the lorries return and Kat continues to be nervous about an attack. Not surprisingly, he is right, and the attack comes quickly and crushingly. There is no escape, and the men seek shelter. Paul catches a splinter in his arm and almost faints. He crawls into a hole and, realizing that they are in a cemetery, hides under a coffin. Kat, Kropp, and the young recruit are there also. As they shrink in terror at the barrage, Kat also realizes that gas is being used and warns them to put on their gas masks. The gas hovers and sinks into holes, forcing them to get above ground once again. However, another barrage begins and they are under attack with nowhere to hide.
