Hailed as a classic of war literature, The Spanish Farm trilogy was the product of a self-confessed ‘misfit’ who owed his survival not to any military skill but to his talent as a French linguist. Steve Snelling charts the remarkable First World War career of citizen soldier turned best-selling author Ralph Hale Mottram.
LITERATURE FROM THE BATTLEFIELDS
Second Lieutenant Ralph Mottram, In the summer of 1915 D Company, 10th Norfolks, at Mersea near Colchester.
Ralph Hale Mottram, soldier and man of letters, who found literary fame as a result of his unusual war experiences as a member of the British Army’s Claims Commission from 1916 to 1919.
Hope had not yet given way to hopelessness but there were no longer any illusions about the war’s likely duration as Second Lieutenant Ralph Mottram led a trickle of men across
