Goofs

In one of the last scenes in the movie, Paul is shown walking with Katczinsky carrying a bucket of turnips in his right hand. An artillery barrage comes and Katczinsky runs to the left while Paul drops the white bucket (and spills the turnips) and dives into tall grass on the right. The camera quickly cuts to Katzinsky showing his wounded leg, then cuts back to Paul, who stands up and runs over to Katzinsky. When Paul runs over to Katzinsky, the white bucket and the turnips are no where to be found.

The stabbed French soldier's right arm moves from his side, to his chest, and back again, between shots.

During the town shelling scene, 3 soldiers are seen running wearing their backpacks and full equipment. Yet the men thrown into the air by the explosion aren't wearing any.

In the scene of Kaiser Wilhelm pinning medals on the soldiers, the battalion is at "Present Arms." In the very next scene, the battalion is at "Attention" (rifle butts resting on the ground), without the command "Order Arms" having been given.

When Himmelstoss arrives with his new platoon, his old trainees tell him that Kemmerich is dead and he crosses his arms in front of him and says he doesn't remember him. In the next scene, his hands are clasped behind his back instead of crossed in front.

The rifles used by the German soldiers in the film are model 1903 Turkish Mausers, in reality they would be using the German Mauser Gewehr 1898. The bayonet is also the Turkish 1903 pattern, which is distinctly different from the German model.

Corporal Himmelstoss' rank is indicated in the movie by his shoulder straps. In the World War I-era German army, a Corporal's (Unteroffizier's) rank was indicated by lace trim around his collar and cuff.

Kaiser Wilhelm's staff car is missing the Kaiser's personal pennant. Being a stickler for protocol and enormously fond of parades, it is highly unlikely that Wilhelm II would have attended an official function (particularly an award ceremony) without the proper paraphernalia.

The color of German uniforms is brown/green. The cut of the uniform used by the main characters is the model "1915 blues," which was field gray with a field gray or green collar.

In the movie, the bayonets used by the German soldiers, especially visible in the opening scenes, are the British 1907 pattern bayonets, rather than the German pattern.

The Kaiser is not wearing the correct decorations. Apart from the fact that he is wearing ribbons rather than medals (Wilhelm II generally preferred medals to ribbons), one can actually see two of those ribbons sporting swastika-bearing eagles - clearly recycled props from a WW II movie.

Although the film takes place during World War I, in one sequence the soldiers are shown riding in trucks that weren't made until the 1930s.

All of the German infantry men use "Y-strap" leather equipment suspenders, which are a 1930s-40s German World War II infantryman's item.

Throughout the film, a number of vehicles are shown with pneumatic tyres. Although it is quite feasible that the Kaiser's car would have had these, for comfort, all military vehicles of the period were equipped with hard rubber tyres, on both sides of the war.

When Paul Baumer returns home on leave, and hugs his sister, the straps of a modern bra can be seen showing through her blouse.

When Corporal Himmelstoss arrives to the front and is welcomed by the main platoon. He commands his new platoon to march away and as they are doing so there is a crew member seen right behind the cast in the top left corner.

As this version begins in 1916 Paul and his friends would have heard stories from the Western Front.

During the scene with the French flamethrower team when Leer is trying to drag the dead Lieutenant to cover, the Lieutentant moves his left arm out from under him and turns his head when Leer is tugging at his Y-straps.