All Quiet on the Western Front

There are so many examples of the terrors and horrors of war in this book. One that stands out for me is in chapter 4. Paul and the others are at the front and Paul describes the chaotic frenzy of life and death that hits them life a whirlwind,  

To me the front is a mysterious whirlpool. Though I am in still water far away from its centre, I feel the whirl of the vortex sucking me slowly, irresistibly, inescapably into itself…  

When there is nothing to comfort the soldiers, the earth becomes his mother, his father, his only sanctuary against death that is whirling about his head. The earth itself becomes the personification of the nurturing soul these boys can burry themselves against the tide of horror,  

When he presses himself down upon her long and powerfully, when he buries his face and his limbs deep in her from the fear of death by shell-fire, then she is his only friend, his brother, his mother; he stifles his terror and his cries in her silence and her security; she shelters him and releases him for ten seconds to live, to run, ten seconds of life; receives him again and often for ever.