Question

How many men die in the first battle of All Quiet on the Western Front (the 1930 film)? How do you know?

Accepted Answer

(from the original film version of the novel directed in 1930 by Lewis Milestone)
In the film, nearly half the men of the Second Company die in the first battle.  The viewers know this because when the men return, they are going to be fed and the cook has prepared food for 150 men.  It is obvious that there are not this many men lined up for food.  The cook asks the men for the count, and there are only eighty men left.  Similar to the book, an argument ensues about whether or not the men can eat the leftover rations of their fallen comrades.
In the novel, Paul narrates the casualities of the battle, so this detail has been adapted for the film version.

Answer

This first battle depicted in the film was revolutionary for its time. Never before had the horrors of battle been portrayed so realistically on screen. It is unclear what the total number of casualties is, but we know that they are quite high. Paul's company alone lost about half of its soldiers. After the battle, Kat tells a cook who had been expecting 150 mouths to feed that

There's eighty of us left. The rest is in dressing stations [the infirmary] or pushing up daisies [a euphemism for dead].

This means that about half the company has been killed or wounded. It is unclear exactly how many are killed or merely taken out of action due to battlefield injuries.
The battles of World War I were shocking due to their incredibly high casualty rates. New weapons combined with outdated tactics meant that thousands could be killed in a single day. For instance, on March 21, 1918, over ten thousand German soldiers lost their lives in battle. The movie does not indicate exactly which battle it is depicting. Rather, by having such a large amount of Paul's company killed or wounded, we are seeing just how deadly dangerous the soldiers's experience is.

All Quiet on the Western Front

How many men die in the first battle of All Quiet on the Western Front (the 1930 film)? How do you know?

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