LANCE CORPORAL HAROLD RUFFLE 40365

[Mike Jones]

Hello David,
I had not forgotton you but had to do some further research to answer your question. I am pretty sure he was wounded 23rd April from various circumstansial evidence. Harold appearing on a casualty list would have been a definite clincher. Allan Parry has done the Worcester Herald but there are others you could look up.
1. Harold only had a 1 in 8 chance of surviving the night of 23rd April uninjured.
2. You said he laid in the mud all night, so it had to be a night action.
3. On average it took 6 months to get discharged after a wounding. Harold was discharged in Oct 1917.
That is where the extra research has come in. I had to find some men with injuries so severe they had to be discharged. The fastest discharge I found was 3 months for a man with a leg amputation.
Pte Brown 6510 had a leg amputated April 1915 and was discharged Jan 1916. Pte Hemming had severe wounds Nov 1915, discharged June 1916. Pte Smith 7500 severe wounds May 1915, discharged Oct 1915. The army were not quick to discharge. Communication was very slow then, everything done by letter. The army also did all it could to get a soldier back to the front. They did not want him going home.
Hope this answers your question Mike

[David Nicholls]

Mike
Very many thanks for your latest posting and continued interest. I am trying to establish a few more facts. No one really spoke to Grandad in any detail about his war service and much of the information we have is family recollection which may or may not be completely accurate Will post if I find out anything. Many thanks again

[David Nicholls]

Mike
I spoke to my Uncle Richard (Harold's son) last evening - don't know if this changes anything. Richard recalls Grandad telling him that the machine gun crew were in a shell cavity in front of the British lines. The shell cavity was hit and Grandad injured. He crawled back to the British lines when it was dark. Grandad said German soldiers passed over him on their way to the British lines but ignored him (I expect they assumed he was dead).
Many thanks again for all your help
best wishes

[David Nicholls]

A brief note to thank everyone who kindly contributed to my previous postings trying to trace my Grandfather's WW1 history - Mike Jones, corona, gilbo139 and alanp. In July two of my cousins and I visited Arras and Monchy le Preux with an excellent guide Jim Smithson and walked the battlefield where the 4th Worcs fought on 23 and 24 April 1917. Impossible to imagine the horror of it all but I was pleased to have at least seen where my grandad had been and where he never really talked about.

In 2011 we were unable to find Grandad's name on a casualty list in a paper either local to Worcester or Stebbing Essex where he lived. We have tried on and off since without success but on our return from France one of my cousins tried again and found Grandad listed as wounded in the Birmingham Daily Post dated Saturday 26 May 1917. This confirms Mike Jones view of where Grandad was likely to have been wounded.

The only missing information is now I think which company of the 4th Worcs was Grandad in.

Thank you again everyone.

David

[David Nicholls]

My grandad was transferred to a hospital in the UK following wounds. Does anybody please have any idea where he might have been sent? My mother thinks Northamptonshire, her sister Yorkshire.