Diary Five - March 1917.

Western Front to Passchendaele

1st March 1917,
Up early this morning to relieve the Brigade Major Things quiet generally this morning. Things slightly different this afternoon. Evidently the Huns had a big relief on and they came along a road to the right of Beaulencourt. Got word through from BOP and put the Batteries on to them and didn't they get it in the neck. Got a ripping report from the Inf. Major. Got right into a patrol of over a hundred, and didn't they get it. Several other patrols came along later and they also got a contribution. Gas alarm tonight. They sent over gas shells round Bty 2 but it didn't reach this far.

2nd March 1917,
Fairly quiet morning misty and inclined to rain. Got a call from the Front Line this afternoon Ye Gods of Angels in Heaven. Will you send over a few bars of love' which amplified meant that the Huns were manning Heaven Trench (their Front Line) and would we open fire. We did. Result quite a lot got Huns. Later At 8.10 our worthy friends attacked Runsay Trench which we pinched from them last night. The guns got going 2 minutes after the first S.O.S. went up. Result again they got it well in the neck. Just got a report from the Front Line, and it says that the attack completely broke down under our fire. One Hun Company of friends were bagged to a man.

3rd March 1917,
Very wintry today. Sundry artillery 'Hates' but nothing much doing. Tonight we had two gas alarms. The first was a 'dud' but the second was O.K. only shell gas though. Was pretty thick up here for a time but nothing to worry about.

4th March 1917,
Managed to get my hair cut today. Not before I wanted it either. Still cold, but fine. Artillery hates all day. Very heavy shelling on the right early this morning. An awfully funny thing happened with a patrol of ours consisting of 4 men. They were out in NML (no man's land) and got caught by a Hun Patrol of 40 who took them prisoners anyhow both parties got lost in the mist, finally they all walked into our own lines, and we bagged 40 Huns without a casualty.

5th March 1917,
Up at 3 A.M. to relieve the Brigade Major and Staff Capt. Snowing like blazes. Glorious sight outside. Very heavy fall this time. Have just got a glorious fire going so it can snow quick and hard if it likes. Decent sort of a day after the fall, so decent that quite a number of Tanks came over and provided us with a little amusement. Sundry hates all day.

6th March 1917,
Sundry aeroplane stunts today. Our planes sank 3 Taubes and they got one of ours which isn't a bad percentage for us. Had a visit from Shaw today. Believe we shift from here tomorrow sometime. Pestered with a few 5 gs about 1pm, but got a Bty to work and it put a stop to their pranks.

7th March 1917,
Up early this morning getting ready for our shift. Left old Bde HQ and came over to this one. En route had rather an exciting time. Four of us the G, Major, S.C. and myself were sneaking along when the Huns sent over a few salvos of 4.2 Two came too close for us to get the splinters but the G and I both slopped a bump of earth apiece. Nothing but bruises though. The rotten part about it though is that the explosion made out ears ring like fury. As a matter of fact mine are still ringing as though I'd swallowed a gigantic telephone something or another. Got rather decent quarters down here. Sundry hates all day, but over too quick for any decent work.

8th March 1917,
Nothing much doing with the exception of getting an occasional burst of Shrapnel over and snowing like blazes.

9th March 1917,
An occasional strafe and more snow about. Nothing much doing.

10th March 1917,
Cooper came up to relieve me today. Said 'cheerio' to BHQ Staff, après lunch and reported to Bty via Ginchy. Got strafed with wizz bangs and 8.2 coming down. Called into HQ and reported to CO. Received instruction from OC. Capt Crisp to relieve Healy at WL. Left guns moved about 4pm into the 9th WL and caught some mail. Arrived at 7th WL late.

11th March 1917,
Getting a knowledge of things with Healy. Had a ride into Albert this afternoon. Visited the Officers Club there and had afternoon tea. Got mounted on a rather fiery stead which did its best to throw me.

12th March 1917,
Healy left for Bty this morning so I'm down here for a while. Nothing much doing. Rather quiet, but the mud is still thick. Caught some more mail today.

13th March 1917,
Raining like blazes as per usual. Rode up to the 9th's WL this evening and had dinner with Faulkner. Got back about 8.30pm. Rode the SM horse. Some charger.

14th March 1917,
Still raining and mud knee deep everywhere.

15th March 1917,
Working like a Trojan getting things square. Mud still gloriously soupy and still raining.

16th March 1917,
Better day today. Very heavy bombardment on both left, right and centre.

Ralph's Medical Records.

Along with so many other servicemen at Gallipoli Ralph suffered from Pyrexia (severe fever) which can be contracted due to the several conditions, like the weather or the supply of food or drink. Ralph had to be evacuated back to a hospital ship and onto Lemnos Is to recover on the 27th July 1915. Ralph return to duty although not back to 100% on the 5th August 1915, when he landed back on W beach in the early hours of the morning, and had to get back into action later that same night.

He was again wounded in action in Flers, France on the 18th November 1916, when he was buried by a shell explosion and sustained a concussion blast in the head and an injury to the shoulder and was admitted to the 38th Casualty Clearing Station before being transferred to the Ambulance Train No 26 on the 19th November 1916, to be then admitted to No 8 General Hospital, Rouen where it was found he was suffering from Trench Feet which is an infection of the feet caused by cold, wet and insanitary conditions. From there he was transferred back to England on the 21st November 1916, and admitted to 3rd London General Hospital, Wandsworth on the 22nd November 1916 for recuperation.

After recovering from his injuries Ralph was discharged to No 1 Command Depot, Perham Downs on the 27th December 1916, and was marched out to the Reserve Brigade, Australian Artillery at Heytesbury on the 21st January 1917, and preceded back overseas to France on the 31th January 1917. He rejoined the 9th Battery, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade on the 9th February 1917.

Ralph was again wounded in action at Passchendaele, Belgium, on the 23rd July 1917, when he sustained a gunshot wound to the abdomen and was admitted to the 91st Field Ambulance Station, this time lady luck was not with him and he did not recover from his wounds and died two days later on the 25th July 1917, at the age of 26 and was Laid to Rest at Coxyde Military Cemetery (Plot I, Row F, Grave No 20), Belgium.

His Duty Done. (Rest in Peace).

Ralph's Diary History.

The fact that his five diaries made it back from the front lines of several campaigns is a miracle in itself but also of how the complete set of diaries came into the possession of our family is also a story to tell. This starts with my father as a small boy and this is his story below,

I seem to remember as a child looking at books and maps relating to the Gallipoli campaign and being told that we had a relative who served there (as many families did). Ralph’s connection to me is that my maternal Grandmother was Ralph’s sister; there were 4 sisters and two brothers in the family. Later in life I was given a leather covered diary (diary one) that recorded his campaign in Gallipoli. I was never aware of any other diaries until my father passed away. Then one day my mother said to me that as I had the leather bound diary that I had better have the others. She then gave me three more diaries written by Ralph during his service in World War One (these being diaries two, three and five).

Some years later, when as a member of the New Plymouth Returned Services Association I was told that there was a letter for me in our club letter rack. The lead up to this letter was that there had been a family reunion for the members of the Ward family (one of my grandmothers sisters had married a Ward).

Ralph Ward, who was named after Ralph Doughty, and who was later to be the N.P. R.S.A. President, had attended this reunion and had met Jane Webster (Ralph Wards niece). Incredibly while speaking to Ralph Ward she had told him that she had in her possession another one of Ralph Doughty's diaries (diary four, the missing diary). She was told by Ralph Ward that there was a chap in New Plymouth (myself) who also had one. Contact was then made between Jane and myself and I was able to tell her that there was more than one diary. We arranged to get together in New Plymouth, and her diary slotted neatly into a gap between diary three and five.

We then arranged that I would take all the diaries to her place of work (the R.N.Z.A.F at Ohakea), where she was an N.C.O. in the Technical Wing. All the diaries were kept in the C.O's safe, causing much interest. And thanks to some great work by Jane Webster and Gary Danvers the whole set of five diaries were transcribed and typed up into a readable format.

by Tony Kivell.

Ralph's Personal World War One Diaries.

Our family are one of the lucky ones that have in their possession five lovingly cherished war diaries that have been returned to us from the fields of battle and cover Ralph's day by day experiences as an artilleryman during his campaigns that started in Egypt on the 5th April, 1915 with his artillery training, then on to Gallipoli, France and Belgium, with his entries finishing on the 16th March, 1917.

These entries are written in indelible pencil and over the 93 years since they were placed onto paper they have faded slightly, so all of Ralph's thoughts and experiences had to be transcribed into a readable format before they were lost forever. This was done with care and respect by Jane Webster and Gary Danvers. During the transcription some words eluded the transcribers and these are indicated with with dots or there were guesses square brackets. With Ralph's own bracketed comments in round brackets and their explanations or expansions of his slang terms being indicated in a manner similar to the guesses but without the question mark.

Ralphs diary's are also visualy interesting to look at in that with diary one Ralph has cut some leather from a horse saddle to use as a protective covers; he has then placed a copper wire through the top of the note pad to bind it all together (still intact even today). Diaries two and three are small pocket note pads, that Ralph would have taken with him during a day's firing to make entries in while he was stationed at his battery gun. Diaries four and five are standard army issue (Field Service) Correspondence books (four having a hard cover, and five having a soft cover). Diary one, two and three were written in while Ralph served in the Gallipoli campaign and diaries four and five were written in during his training in Egypt and during his campaigns in France and Belgium, this being a total of 2 years 10 months and 42 days.

Personally I would like to think that Ralph may have had a sixth diary somewhere, as there is a gap between his last entry in his fifth diary to when he was wounded in action in Belgium (Passchendaele), this being a total of 3 month and 37 days. And if there was another diary I would also like to think that it was laid with him when interred at Coxyde Military Cemetery.