1938 - 1945: "When the War Broke Out" and "When the War was Over"

1938
Böll is called up for "labour service". In the summer he matriculates at Cologne University.

1939 - 1945
In autumn, with the outbreak of WW II, he is called up for military service. He is stationed at a training camp in Osnabrück (till May 1940); in Poland (May and June 1940); in France (June to September 1940); in Germany (September 1940 to May 1942); again in France (May 1942 to October 1943); in Russia, the Crimea and Odessa (October 1943 to February 1944); finally at various places on German territory until taken prisoner. Almost every day he writes a letter to his family and to his fiancée Annemarie Cech, whom he marries in 1942. In 1944 his mother dies of a heart attack, following an air raid. Throughout the war, Böll who did not want to be promoted to officer rank, avoided active service.  At first he put in applications to obtain leave to study; later he reported sick or forged leave passes; he was wounded for times.  On April 8, 1945, Cologne was liberated by the American army.

1944 - 1945
Heinrich Böll lives through the the end of the war in the Rhineland where he temporarily deserts and goes into hiding with his wife. Then, fearing to be picked up as a deserter and being shot he rejoins the army at the end of February 1945. Shortly afterwards he is captured by American troops.  He is a POW until September 1945. The same year his son Christoph is born but dies shortly afterwards.