May 2, 1942

We have taken a terrific beating most of the day today. We had many heavy bombing attacks—how many I don’t know yet, and part of the time they were rocking this tunnel. They hit all around us. The Jap artillery was also very active and delivered a heavy volume of shell fire most of the day. The fire was rather general, but seemed to be particularly heavy at James Ravine and Battery Point. By actual count there were 505 shells which fell on Battery Point today. If a landing attack is to be made by the Japs in the near future it would appear that it will come at Battery Point and James Ravine. They hit and seriously damaged some of the artillery today—haven’t had a report on the extent of the damage. I was told that a magazine at a mortar battery was hit and exploded, wrecking the entire battery. The situation here is getting worse each day as more men are killed and wounded, and more guns are put out of action. The Jap artillery is doing most of the damage.