Firewood was very scarce, as there were few trees or bushes, but it had to be obtained somehow for the trench fires over which the men brewed their tea and cooked their food. It was therefore not uncommon in the Helles area, in spite of orders issued to diminish waste, to see a caseful of tins of bully-beef tipped out on the roadside, that the invaluable wooden case might be split up for fuel. Butts of rifles which lay beside their dead owners met the same fate. Evidence of the awful waste of war abounded—weapons, ammunition, equipment, food, clothing, trodden under foot, and left to rust and decay. Where man could not expose himself by day these things remained unsalved for months, but elsewhere they were collected and returned to store. The best place where wood could be “won” was above Bakery Beach. A sentry was put over the wood-pile, but interesting conversation and a few cigarettes would occasionally distract his attention for the needful time. On May 21 the Brigade Commanders received instructions from the Divisional Commander on various points connected with the latest methods and conditions of siege warfare, such as the use of bombs, sandbags, and loopholes, and the action of snipers. One officer, one N.C.O. and four men from each company were instructed in bombing, under the officer commanding the R.E., and each infantry brigade was allotted 400 bombs. It was found, however, that no more than 225 bombs were available for distribution among the three brigades. The bombs were made from empty jam tins sent down from the trenches to Lancashire Landing, where they were filled (chiefly by the divisional butchers and bakers at first) with old nails, bits of shell and of barbed wire, and other scraps of metal and an explosive charge. At first a time fuse was fitted through the top of the tin, and this had to be lighted by the aid of a match, but before long a detonating fuse was fitted. Matches were scarce and valuable, and in wind and rain many were wasted before the fuse could be lighted. These bombs were first issued in very small quantities about an hour before the attack began on June 4. On the 25th of May occurred the memorable cloud-burst on Achi Baba, and in a few moments the nullahs were in spate, the trenches flooded, and thousands of men soaked to the skin. It was an Act of God which could not be foreseen or provided against, and the hardship inflicted upon the troops was very great. For a time the Krithia Nullah was impassable, and many dead Turks were carried down. The Lancashire Fusiliers Brigade Headquarters was under four feet of water for several hours, and the Signal Office was washed away. One battalion was enjoying beef-steaks in the dug-outs when a roar of water was heard, and a stream twenty feet wide quickly filled every dug-out. With British tenacity the men held on to chunks of bread and of steak as they scrambled for higher ground. [Sidenote: _The Submarine Menace_]