"but in war as in war"

“You heard probably of the heroic exploit of Raévski, embracing his two sons and saying: ‘I will perish with them but we will not be shaken!’ And truly though the enemy was twice stronger than we, we were unshakable. We pass the time as we can, but in war as in war! The princesses Align and Sophie sit whole days with me, and we, unhappy widows of live men, make beautiful conversations over our charpie, only you, my friend, are missing...” and so on.

Nie rozumiem tego wytłuszczonego zdania. Czy można je sparafrazować:
We pass the time as we can, but in war [we pass the time] as in war!

Jeśli nie, jak można je przetłumaczyć?

as in war jest dla podkreslenia: w prawdziwej wojnie, w pelnym tego slowa znaczeniu

w oryginale rosyjskim jest napisane 'ale na wojnie jak na wojnie'

acha, cos jak 'it is what it is'

Dziękuję.

moze to taki skrot mysleniowy:
but (it is) in war as (it is) in war.
it is as it is - jest jak jest, co jest kalka dla 'it is what it is'