During the advance on Ville-sur-Ancre, on 19 May 1918, Ruthven’s company suffered many casualties and his company commander was severely wounded. Ruthven then assumed command of company headquarters and thus effectively led this part of the assault. As the leading wave approached its objective it encountered heavy machine-gun fire so Ruthven, without hesitation, bombed the post, rushed the position and bayoneted one of the crew and captured the gun. He then encountered some enemy coming out of a shelter. He wounded two of the enemy and took another six prisoners. He reorganised the men in his vicinity and established a post on the second objective. When he observed enemy movement in a sunken road nearby he went over armed only with a revolver. He shot two enemy who refused to come out of their dug outs and then, single-handedly, mopped up the post, capturing thirty-two men. During the remainder of the day he moved up and down the position, ignoring the enemy fire, and supervised the consolidation and encouraged his men.