1 S.P., 43–4.
2 WO 157/702, 21.3.16; ibid., 705, 21.6.16.
3 FO 882/2, 332: WO 33/820, 5746, 5762; Wingate 140/6, Clayton to Wingate, 14.9.16.
4 Weldon, 134–5; WO 33/820, 5758.
5 Wingate 141/4, 24–6.
6 Murray to Robertson, 17.10.16.
7 Lloyd 8/9, Clayton to Lloyd, 28.12.16.
8 Adm 137/548, 39; Lloyd 8/9, Clayton to Lloyd, 28.12.16.
9 Ibid.
10 Wingate 141/3, 35; 143/2, 190–2.
11 17N 499,14.10.16.
12 Adm 137/334, 597, 615; Jones, V, 219–20; FO 371/2773, 116639.
13 S.P., 88.
14 Von Sandars, 144–5.
15 WO 33/905, 5815, 5821, 6454, 6175.
16 Clayton 693/11 [Lawrence’s Report of 18.10.16].
17 17N 499, 1.6.17.
18 Clayton 693/11.
19 Clayton 470/5, 7.
20 Joyce, 1.
21 Storrs, 172; Clayton 693/11.
22 17N 499, 3.11.16.
23 Brémond, 9-10, 42, 45 n.3, 59, 61; Wingate 143/3, 70; 17N 498, Carton 2, dossier 2; FO 686/1/1, 127 ff.
24 Wingate 141/4, 93.
25 Ibid., 3,13.
26 WO 33/905, 6024.
27 Wingate 141/2, 42.
28 Lawrence’s views are taken from his reports in: Wingate 143/9, 93; 143/6, 8-10, 48-51; Clayton 693/11; WO 33/905, 6156.
29 17N 499, 14.10.16.
30 Wingate 143/3, 106.
31 S.P., 68.
32 Letters, ed. Garnett, 219-20; FO 686/1/1, 123–4; Waugh, 314.
33 Wingate 143/2, 28–31.
34 WO 33/905, 6089; Clayton 694/4, 28.
35 Adm 137/397, 581, 588, 617; Adm 137/548, 40.
36 Wingate 143/6, 53-4.
37 WO 33/905, 6179; Wingate 143/6, 53.
38 Hogarth, 21.1.17. According to Captain Doynal St Quentin, Lawrence converted Hogarth and the Arab Bureau to his views. The Frenchman also believed that it had been Wemyss’s assessment of the Hejaz situation which had carried the greatest weight in London [17N, 499, 18.11.16].
39 WO 33/905, 6047; Wingate 143/6, 53.
40 WO 33/905, 6047, 6060, 6065, 6118; Jones, V, 220–1.
41 Wingate 143/2, 190-2, 193.
II Lawrence and the Arabs
1 Clayton 693/11, Lawrence to Clayton, 9.9.17.
2 K.S., Box 6, interview with Gunner Beaumont.
3 Mack, 271.
4 Lloyd 9/13, Lloyd to Clayton, 20.10.17.
5 Wingate 143/7, 40–2.
6 Young, 150.
7 Meinertzhagen, 28–9.
8 Young, 156.
9 Letters, ed. Garnett, 490–1.
10 Wingate 141/4, 56.
11 FO 882/2, 50–1.
12 Ibid, 4.
13 Vickery, 59.
14 Rolls, 192, 221, 235–6, 238.
15 WO 95/4415 [A.C. Section], 10.5.18; ibid [O.C. Northern Hejaz], 11.5.18.
16 Ibid, 12.6.18.
17 FO 882/2, 5.
18 Yale, 5.11.17.
19 Clayton 693/11, Lawrence to Clayton, 18.10.16.
20 WO 95/4415 [A.C. Section], 14.9.18.
21 Lewis, 233–4.
22 Khoury, ‘Tribal Shaykh’, 183-4; Mandelstam, 338-40, 340 n.2.
23 Wingate 149/8, 46.
24 WO 95/4415 [O.C. Northern Hejaz], 10-11.5.18. There was a further mutiny - see 16N 3200, 4.10.18.
25 WO 158/630, 22A, 32A.
26 Ibid, 64A.
27 17N 498, ‘Situation au Hedjaz: Expose Sommaire des Principaux Evénements Militaires et Politiques, 7.1.18’.
28 Ibid, Cornwallis to Bremond, 26.10.17.
29 WO 158/629, 31A.
30 WO 158/630, 6A.
31 Ibid, 16A.
32 Jarvis, 29–30.
33 Young, 156–7.
34 Khoury, ‘Tribal Shaykh’, 183–4. After the war Lawrence’s Beduin ‘patriots’ continued to sell their allegiance to the highest bidder. In 1925 the French mandatory authorities paid 800,000 francs to the Syrian nomads in return for their neutrality during a rebellion by the Druze and Damascenes [Miller, 558 n.].
35 FO 686/1, I, 65.
36 Yale, 11.3.18.
37 Wingate 145/1, 18; FO 686/1, I, 1ff.
38 17N 498, 9.3.17, 24.8.17; WO 33/946, 9084, 9265; Brémond, 231.
39 Brémond, 106-7; 17N 498, 6.4.17; 17N 499, Carton 2, dossier 2 [9.6.17]. In January 1917 Captain Raho, sabre in hand, led a charge of Abdullah’s camelry.
40 WO 106/1417, 19.
41 Presland, 271; Brémond, 185 ff.; Kirkbride, 41–6; 17N 499, Carton 13, dossier 4 (for Aden mutiny).
42 Clayton 693/11, 4.
43 A.W. Lawrence (ed.), Secret Dispatches, 155.
III Triumph at Aqaba
1 Mack, 151.
2 Joyce, 2.
3 16N 3200 [‘Le Raid du Major Lawrence et L’Action Anglaise à Akaba‘], p.3.
4 Lloyd 9/13, 20.10.17
5 Letters, ed. Garnett, 238.
6 Ibid.
7 MacMunn and Falls, II, ii, 233 n.1.
8 Wingate 144/1, 42; 144/2, 32; Adm 137/548, 83.
9 Adm 137/548, 78.
10 I.e., Arab Bureau decrypts of 12–13.12.16 [Wingate 143/3, 99] which detail Fahreddin’s forces, their dispositions and the lack of aeroplane spare parts and an epidemic of dysentery at Medina [ibid., 17, 15]. Lawrence knew of this and advised Faisal accordingly. He also summoned up RNAS seaplanes to harass the Turkish forward positions [ibid, 14, 40, 51]. The intelligence information was later passed to Brémond’s mission [17N 498, 30.12.16 and 17N 499, 13.12.16]. The Turks suspected that their wireless messages were being intercepted by warships in the Red Sea [WO 157/711, 9.12.16].
11 17N 498, 12.2.17; the evacuation of women and supernumeraries was also reported [FO 686/1, I, 9].
12 Von Sandars, 207-8; 17N 498, 14.2.17.
13 Garland.
14 Adm 137/150, 207.
15 Bray, Shifting Sands, 101. For other views in favour of guerrilla warfare see: WO 33/905/5989A; Wingate 137/5, 1; 140/3, Wingate to Murray 9.6.16; 141/2, 78, and Lloyd 9/8, 22.4.16.
16 Lloyd 9/8, Clayton to Lloyd, 28.12.16.
17 Wingate 143/2, 103, 190–3, 248; 143/3, 106; 16N 3200 [‘Le Raid’], p. 2.
18 WO 33/905, 5089A; 17N 499, 18.11.16.
19 For what happened at el Wajh: Garland; Vickery, 51-2; Weldon, 157-8; Adm 137/150, 251; Adm 137/548, 114. All disagree with Lawrence’s account.
20 FO 686/1, I, 57.
21 For Lawrence on Vickery and Garland: L.T.B. ii, 36, 63, 94, 96 [Lawrence objected to Garland on account of his being a former NCO]; Vickery, 54–6.
22 Clayton 470/6, 22. Wilson thought Bray had a ‘kink’ about the Arab business; Lawrence cared little for Bray or his critical book–see Letters, ed. Garnett, 828 and Letters, ed. Brown, 508.
23 WO 157/711, 8.12.16; 17N 499,15.11.16.
24 Letters, ed. Brown, 77; Wingate 143/2, 28-31; Lloyd 9/9, Lloyd to Clayton, 1.1.17; WO 33/905, 7116, 6826; 17N 498, 3.4.17. The Rwallah were desperate for gold with which to buy corn and were willing to hawk their loyalty about–see a report by ‘Maurice’ (WO 33/935, 7477) of May 1917. Rwallah duplicity must have been known to Hussain since ‘Maurice’ enjoyed his confidence [Wingate 144/1, 2]. Lawrence and Faisal must presumably have known something of their potential ally’s flexible loyalty.
25 17N 498, 7.5.17; 17N 499, 25.5.17.
26 17N 499, 25.5.17; Brémond was deeply disturbed by Lawrence’s Syrian machinations, although he had told him that his aim was solely to divide the Islamic world [Brémond, 161 n.].
27 Wingate 145/1, 19.
28 17N 499, Carton 12, dossier 1.
29 WO 95/4367 [GHQ Ops], 6.2.17 [Notes on the meeting with Brémond]; Clayton 694/4, 8 [Memo on French Mission]; 17N 499 21, 25.1.17; Brémond, 132.
30 Brémond, 133; 17N 498, 22.2.17.
31 Murray to Robertson, 14.7.16; Robertson to Murray, 29.8.16; FO 800/48, 496; 17N 499, 5.11.16.
32 Air 1/2284/209/75, 8 [Report
of aerial survey undertaken on 7.8.16].
33 Wingate 145/1, 55, 60.
34 Adm 137/510, 223; Adm 137/548, 167, 182.
35 Lloyd 9/9, Newcombe to Clayton, 20.5.17; Brémond, 132 [Brémond heard that Newcombe and Faisal were discussing plans to take Aqaba at the end of January soon after the occupation of el Wajh]; 17N 498, 26.6.17.
36 WO 33/905, 7116.
37 Ibid., 6826.
38 17N 499, 19.5.17; WO 158/634, 65A, p. 2.
39 Clayton 694/4, 28.
40 Copies are in: Lloyd 9/9; WO 158/634, 3A, 4A; Wingate 146/5, 71 [with map]; Letters, ed. Garnett, 225-36.
41 Letters, ed. Brown, 111.
42 Wingate 141/3, Wilson to Wingate, 5.10.16; 17N 498, 30.10.16.
43 Wingate 146/1, 17; WO 158/634, 9A.
44 Stewart, 166–7.
45 16N 3200 ‘Le Raid’, p.1.
46 WO 33/935/7753.
47 17N 498, 8.6.17, 4.7.17, 18.7.17.
48 Falls, 8.
49 16N 3200, ‘Le Raid’, p.3.
Part Four: the Road to Damascus: July 1917—October 1918
I The Railway War
1 16N 3200, ‘Le Raid’, p.1.
2 Young, 140.
3 Wingate 146/1, 17.
4 Ibid., 146/5, 54.
5 Edmonds, III, 2, 15.
6 Barrow, 215.
7 Allenby 7/4, 2.
8 WO 158/634, 10A.
9 WO 33/935, 7767, 7782.
10 Cab 45/80, Robertson to Edmonds, 29.12.25.
11 WO 158/629, 2A, 31A.
12 Ibid., 2A, 26A.
13 Cab 45/80, Philby to Edmonds, 11.9.29.
14 Letters, ed. Brown, 112.
15 WO 106/1515, 29; ibid, 1516, 15.
16 Meinertzhagen, 2.12.17.
17 WO 106/619, 59.
18 E.g., WO 95/4275 [Line of Communication], March and June 1918; WO 154/164 [ANZAC Mounted Division, Assist. Provost Marshal] 5, 7 and 31.10.18; Gullett, 359, 282; Guy Powles, 121.
19 Von Sandars, 176, 183, 195, 206–7.
20 FO 686/1, II, 80.
21 Garland; 17N 499, 1.1.17, 9.8.17; FO 686/1, II, 13, 63, 80.
22 Tanvir Wasti, passim.
23 WO 33/960, 1005.
24 Garland ; Tanvir Wasti, 642–3, 645.
25 Cab 45/80, Philby to Edmonds, 11.9.29.
26 FO 882 /2, 70.
27 Kirkbride, 17–18, 43.
28 17N 499, 14.10.17 [Lawrence gave Pisani £70 for his expenses]; Brémond, 215–7; WO 158/634, 43B; for Lawrence’s objections, ibid., 38A.
29 WO 158/634, 113A.
30 17N 498, 10.9.17. The would-be assassin was flogged.
31 WO 158/634, 91A; see also ibid., 65A.
32 WO 158/635, 1A, 2A.
33 Wingate 146/6, 68-9.
II A Covert Operation
1 Clayton 692/12, Clayton to Joyce, 24.10.17.
2 Lloyd 9/13, 25.10.17.
3 Lloyd 9/10; another copy is in Clayton 694/4, 30–4.
4 FO 371/3384,181025.
5 Yale, 12.11.17.
6 Clayton 693/12, 44; 693/11, 9. Wingate agreed [Wingate 146/6, 82].
7 WO 33/935, 8366, 8371.
8 Wingate 146/8, 81.
9 Clayton, 693/11, Lawrence to Clayton, 17.9.17.
10 17N 498, 6.19.17.
11 Lloyd 9/10.
12 Von Sandars, 208.
13 17N 498, 23.12.17.
14 WO 33/748, 3570, 3590.
III Dera: Degradation or Deception?
1 WO 95/4415 [RFA Motor Section] The entry reads, ‘21.11.17 Carried out reconnaissance with Col P. Joyce and Col [sic] Lawrence up Wadi Yetm’.
2 A.W. Lawrence (ed.), T.E. Lawrence by His Friends, 163-4. Captain Samuel Brodie described how he had first met Lawrence in Joyce’s tent the morning after his unit had disembarked. According to their war diary, the gunners had left their previous station at Mersa Matruh on 11 November and landed in Aqaba on 21 November, which puts the date of Brodie’s introduction to Lawrence as 22 November. The entries in the early part of the unit’s war diary are fragmentary and were written up the following April; nevertheless, the dates of embarkation and disembarkation are unlikely to have been forgotten, and that of the latter is confirmed by the log of the guardship (see below).
3 Adm 53/44609.
4 K.S., 90-2; Stirling did not file the letter, but kept it and later sold it to the University of Texas.
5 Meinertzhagen, 32.
6 Seymour-Smith, 108-9; O‘Prey, Between Moon and Moon, 140; Letters, ed., Brown, 131, 201–2, 260, 261–2, 360–1. John Chambers, one of Lawrence’s RAF colleagues, heard that he had escaped from Dera by killing a sentry with a stone [K.S., 215].
7 Barker, 295–6.
8 WO 33/946/8547. On 25 November, GHQ intelligence received written reports from Aqaba of bridge destruction west of Dera and low-grade topographical information from the Dera-Afule region [WO 157/721].
9 Hogarth, 26.11.17.
10 Hogarth, 29.11.17.
11 WO 158/634, 168A, 174A.
12 Malcolm Muggeridge heard this from Meinertzhagen [Observer, 29.8.68].
13 E.g., MacMunn in Saturday Review, 19.3.27.
14 K.S., 214–5.
15 I owe this important point to Hugh Leach. It is expanded in his T.E. Lawrence: Some Centenary Reflections (privately printed, 1988).
16 K.S., 214–5.
17 Meinertzhagen, 38–9.
18 K.S., 215-7, Leach, 24–5.
19 Macpherson, III, 433.
20 Mogarth, 16.12.17.
21 See page 74.
22 Vickery, 53.
23 Wilson, ‘Revolt’, 282.
24 K.S., Box 4.
25 I am indebted to Mrs Elspeth Huxley for these references and to Lord Kennet for the transcripts and generous permission to quote them at length.
26 J. Wilson, 350, 377–8.
27 Cab 45/116.
28 Letters, ed. Brown, 260, 360–1.
29 Seymour-Smith, 108–9.
30 I am indebted to Colin Simpson for confirming this; the transcript is in K.S., Box 6.
31 Bloch 356–7 for an account of these establishments during the nineteenth century; their more recent history remains unwritten.
32 Sunday Times, 19.7.77, 26.7.77, 3.8.77.
33 Geographical Journal, 72, 101.
34 Sunday Times, 23.6.68.
35 The Times 29.11.69; Mack, 524–5. This section of Bruce’s story was amended when it was published in Knightley and Simpson’s The Secret Lives of Lawrence of Arabia.
36 Mack, 428–9, 431, 524; Professor Mack was able to interview Bruce and others involved in Lawrence’s beating sessions in the late 1960s, but he did not name them.
37 Bloch, 359–60.
38 16N 3200, ‘Le Raid’, p.1.
39 Sherwood, 146. Flecker was bisexual and had been introduced to homosexuality at Uppingham where it seems to have been commonplace.
40 A.W. Lawrence (ed.), T.E. Lawrence by His Friends, 214.
41 I am indebted to Colin Simpson for this observation which was based upon his father’s recollections of the Versailles Conference and to Ernest Dashwood-Evans who met Lawrence by chance in a London public house in 1931 and who remained friendly with him for some months. He recalled warmly Lawrence’s wit, intelligence and generosity of spirit.
42 Maugham. 116.
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