Paul Bäumer (18 November 1899-11 November 1918) was a German soldier who served as a private in the Imperial German Army's 78th Reserve Infantry Regiment on the Western Front of World War I.
Biography[]
Paul Bäumer was born in Hanover, German Empire in 1899, and he attended school with Aaron Kropp, Franz Muller, and Ludwig Behm. He and his classmates were indoctrinated with German nationalism during their studies, and, on their graduation in the spring of 1917, they were told by their professor that they were Germany's "greatest generation" and would soon march on Paris. Bäumer and his classmates promptly enlisted in the Imperial German Army, and they were assigned to the 78th Reserve Infantry Regiment and sent to the front at La Malmaison in northern France. They were quickly disillusioned upon being sent to bail water out of the trenches, coming under shell fire, and being sent to collect dog tags from their dead comrades. Behm was killed by artillery fire on the first night, causing Bäumer great sadness. Bäumer soon befriended the veterans Albrecht Katczinsky and Tjaden Stackfleet, and he served at the front for over a year. In November 1918, the last days of the war, Bäumer began to lose the rest of his friends in battle: Muller went missing during the retreat from a French armored assault, Kropp was killed by a flamethrower during the retreat, Stackfleet was wounded in the leg during the fighting and stabbed himself to death with a fork rather than live as a cripple, and Katczinsky was mortally wounded by a French farmer's young son as he and Bäumer fled from the farm, from which they had just stolen chicken eggs. On the morning of 11 November 1918, a disillusioned and alone Bäumer took part in the German Army's final assault on the French trenches at Eguisac, during which he engaged in melee combat with the French defenders. He threw one of the defenders into a bunker, where they ceased fighting upon hearing that the ceasefire had taken effect; however, Bäumer was then bayoneted in the back by a French soldier, and he died of his wounds upon climbing out of the bunker into the trench.
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