Question for All Quiet on the Western Front

I'm thinking you mean Chapter 4 when Paul and his mates are sent to the front to lay wire. Wire allowed them to communicate (crude phone) during battle. The English artillery starts firing--an hour before their regular ten o'clock schedule. Gunfire opens nearby, and again Paul observes a change in the men's faces and behavior. The men rely on the earth to survive. The earth becomes the soldier's closest ally as he buries himself into it during fighting, seeking holes and small valleys for protection. He believes this action is instinctive, and the only way to save oneself.