Opfergang

Opfergang, a war book written by F. von Unruh while on active service in the prolonged assault on Verdun in 1916; its publication was forbidden by the censor, and it did not appear until 1919 after the fall of the monarchy. A relatively short work (204 pp.) based on first-hand experience, it deals with the period of suspense before the offensive and with the horrifying and heroic details of attack and counter-attack. It is hectically written, generating a continuous and exhausting tension. Portrayed at company level, with frequent side glances at general and staff, it indulges in the early stages in reflections on the futility of war. Towards the end it stresses the gulf between the soldiers on the ground who fight and the general and staff, perched literally and symbolically in a tower, issuing paper orders and spoken commands which cannot be carried out, although the attempts to obey them involve enormous loss of life. The feverish style is partly Expressionist (see Expressionismus).