This night I opened a plot of ground at the end of Shrapnel Valley as a burial ground which later grew to such pathetic desperation area. An order is issued that all funerals were to take place by night.
On the morning of the 18th “Jack Johnson” made its first appearance. This was the nick-name given to an 8" shell with a black burst of smoke which was believed to have been fired from the Turkish forts at Chantik on the southern side of the Narrows. It fired intermittently for a week. Three were killed by it the first morning but its casualties were extraordinarily few.
Rumour had it that the Turks were likely to make an attack in force the next day & every one was busy in preparation. The “heads” had something more than rumour to plan on. Never was our information better. We knew how when & where they would come & we were ready for them. They were broadminded enough to attack on the whole Anzac front. It is awful to think what would have happened if they had concentrated
