The memoirs of Lieutenant-General Air Thomas d'Oyly 'Snowball' Snow,
1914-1918. "The enemy has got to be fought everywhere and hard...Everything is
going very well indeed and no one minds the losses as long as we are
moving."
The never-before-published papers of General Sir Thomas D’Oyly Snow
provide a remarkable insight into the mindset of the Great War commanders.
Despite being severely injured during the first Battle of the Marne – when his
horse fell and rolled over him, cracking his pelvis – Snow served at some of the
most important battles of the Western Front.
His memoirs include the Battle of Loos, the Second Battle of Ypres,
the battles of Arras and Cambrai, the retreat from Mons and was responsible for the diversionary attack on
Gommecourt on 1st July 1916, the first day of the Somme.
This volume is comprised of vivid extracts from contemporary notes
that only an eyewitness can offer coupled with frank post-war reflections that
show the wisdom of hindsight and perspective, which brings an open awareness of
military folly.
D’Oyly Snow died in London, aged 82, on 30th August 1940. This
first edition of his letters and memoirs – published exactly 70 years after his
death – has been introduced by his great grandson, the broadcaster and author
Dan Snow.
