i B & a i 1 % J 3 5 * Fd SATURDAY, AUGUST 0, 1919, ~od PAGE FIVE In he Twilight of the Tur The Amazing Experiences of a Captured British Officer BY CAPTAIN ALAN BQFT, M.C,, RAF. Author of "Cavalry of the Clouds" . the German staff officer who ques tioned me boasted that the Arab lead- ers co-operating with the British were gbout to betray us, "That," 1 suggested, "sounds like a first-class falsehood." But Lieutenant Santal, the German officer in question, insisted and de- clared that Djemal Pasha, the Turkish general commanding the 4th army, had already received from the Emir Feisul, Commander-in-Chief of the Arab army, a letter of submission. Two days later there arrived at Na- zareth a British subaltern captured it the Jordan Valley. He had been taken to Djemal Pasha's Readquarters at Es Salb, where a member of the Turkish general staff showed him a letter in Arabic, supposedly from Fei- sul. In this communication, according to the Turk, the Arab Emir said he realized that the British would be driven out of Jerusalem before long, and the Arabs, having seen the error of their ways, wanted peace. Now, the fact that this tale of an Arab defection was current in two Paces so far Spart as Nazareth apd s Salb, coupled with the evidence of the letter, almost convinced us of the rumored betrayal. Yet, knowing that Colonel Lawrente--the young officer who for eighteen months, living as a Bedouin 'among the Bedouins, had been the soul of the Arab campaign ~-was with Feisul, we found it hard to believe that the Arab leader's offer could be genuine. Clears Up the Mystery. Months later, after my escape from Turkey I met Colonel Lawrence and asked him about Feisul's letter to the Turkish Commander. "My dear fellow," said he, "don't worry about that. I wrote the letter myself. We happened to be in a tight corner, and some form of diversion was necessayy. We chose writing to Djemal Pasha as the diversion, and it succeeded. When dealing with Orien- tals, Oriental methods: are best." That story is but one among a thou- sand of Colonel Lawrence's flashes of genius. It was a queer fantasy of war, and of human nature, that sent a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, to guide . the Bedouins of Arabia through one of the most extraordinary campaigns in history. By some miscalculation of news values the story of the Arab. re- volt against the Turks has never been told in the American press. Yet its wild raids and 'desert dashes; on a moscaic-background of such names as Mecen, Medina, Damascus, and the Pilgrim: Railway, were the war's most romgntic feature, with the sible exception of General Allenby's cap- ture of Jerusalem. 'As for the "English Arab" who was the soul of the campaign--Lieut.Col- onel T. E. Lawrence, C.B., D.S.O, in rivate life the aforementioned Ox- ord scholar----I regard his work as the most brilliant individual achieve- ment of the war. : When I was an aviator in Palestine the name of Lawrence become, among General Allenby's armies, al- most a legend. Dozens of wonderful stories, some true and some half true clung to it; and the true portion of them was. fully as remarkable as the "4 of the Turkish raiding party. Feisul's Bedouins, against the ad- vice of their leader, then charged the citadel that stood outside the walls. The Turks had several guns within the citadel, and these poured out a raking fire, The Bédouins, who had never be- fore experienced artillery fire, swerv- ed aside and took a in the gar- dens. Thereupon the Turkish leader despatched an enveloping force "to destroy them, Feisul's Daring Feat. Feisul saw their grave danger, and brought thé rest of his Arabs to the rescue. He halted his horse on the fringe of an area which the Turks were spraying with shrapnel, and call- ed to the Bedouins in the gardens to come across and join him. They re- fused, protesting that it was death to ride over the shell-swept plain, Feisul laughed, and forced his horse at a walk through the shrapnel, until, un- hurt and still laughings he reached the gardens. Turning around, he wav- ed to the Arabs behind him; and at a wild gdllop they followed him back across the pain, reaching safety with a loss of only twenty men. Feisul and Ali had insufficient food and ammunition to continue the hos- tilities at Medina, so that for the mo- ment they were forced to be content with raids on the Turkish lines of communication. Medina, indeed, re- mained 'uncaptured and cut off from the world until weeks after the armis- tice, because the Arabs' fear of injur- ing the Tomb of Mahomet made them When I was a prisoner at Nazareth in time only to witness the withdrawal Copyright, 1919, by the McClure Newspaper Syndicate. VIII--THE ENGLISH ARAB defended except by small forces under the command of his brothers, Feisul 'prepared to advance up the Red Sea coast and attack Wejh, 200 miles t the north. His stores were"embark: ed on the British warships, while he divided his little army of 10,000 men {ito nine sections, which were to tra- vel independently and concentrate at a 'little village half-way to Wejh. From this village he began a march over 150 miles of desert, containing not a single spring of water and only a few 'small wells. . With him was Colonel Lawrence. } The Bedouins who guided Feisul's force over 'the dreadful march had ne short unit of time such as the hour, and no short measure of space. They had no conception pf numbers above ten, and although able to find the wells and roads without difficulty, they had no means of describing their posi- tion. Yet, despite a thousand and one | b difficulties and hardships, the Arabs arrived before Wejh with the Joss of only a few camels. Wejh itself had been taken already by a party brought from Yembo by British warships, but Feisul arrived in time to cut off the escaping Turks and capture the garrison's reserve supplies. Feisul--inspiréd' as always by Col- onel Lawrence--now took upon him- self the difficult tagk of obtaining the support of the desert tribes. is was far from easy. For centuries the Bedouins of Arabia had wandered over their sands in small communities, amid a maze of blood feuds and inter« tribal quarrels. It needed ' several in yehaln from a direct attack on the city. A The British, through their fleet in months of negotiation, infihite fact and diplomacy, and a certain amount of British gold before he succeeded. Throughout July 2 they fought the Turks in a heat that made movement torture. "The burning ground," says Colonel Lawrence, "seared the skin of the forearms of our snipérs, and camels went as lame as the men with the agony of the sun-burned flints." Turks Flee In Panic. Hemmed inte a valley, the Turks defended themselves until evening. Just after sunset old Auda, with fifty horsemen, charged from a crooked hollow over some rising ground, shoot- ing from the saddle as he came. The Turks, seized with panic, broke and scattered, and the remainder of the small Arab force dashed down from the hillsides as fast as their camels would bring them. Some of the Turks escaped; but the Arabs captured and killed more than their own total num- ers, They swept along the great road which the Turks had constructed for the invasion of Egypt, and entered Akaba in triumph. By now they were jaded and weary, for the camel troops had covered a thousand miles of different country in five weeks. They had no food and were forced to eat their riding camels, Messengers were sent in haste to Suez, whence British warships, load- ed with foodstuffs, steamed at full speed to Akaba and thus saved two thousand Arabs and a thousand Turks from starvation. . A month later Feisul came to Ak- aba, which from then onward was the base and general headquarters of the Arab army. Behind it was a wonder- ful achievement. Nearly the whole of Arabia was cleared of Turks; and Son Red Sea, began to supply the Hed- Arabs with arms and munitions food. Their most vital help, how- ever, was in the person of a young officer named Lieutenant Lawrence of as political His relations with the Arabs already \ over several years to the pr ! Sons Finally, however, he s brought all the important. trilies of 'Arabia na the | sul. M hr with British Si a ecca, W su aimed himself King of the Today--and. this extraordinary -ach- ievement is entirely the work of two men, Prince Feisul and Colonel Law- rence--there is not a single blood-feud antinople Toa qs Arab Forces In New Role. Thenceforward the whole character the east bank of the Dead Sea, At dawn they halted by some bushes overlooking a little harbor, where part | of the Turkish Dead Sea Fleet was moored. While the crews were break- fasting on shore the Bedouins dashed toward the shore, captured the fleet {with its cféws, sunk the ships, and rode 'off with their prisoners before the near-by Turkish garrison had be- gun to realize what was hiippening. 'The "fleet" consisted only of motor launches and fishing vessels; but, nevertheless, its destruction by irreg- ular. cavalry was unique. None ap- preeiated this more than two smartly- dressed Turkish naval officers, whom the Bedouins sent to Akaba as tro- phies. After each of his successes Feisul would send a telegram to King George. his father's ally, always ending it with the announcement "the truth fol- lows by post." for the Arabs during the winter of 1917-1918. The Bedouin were quite unused to the cold and the snow which they met in the hills of Moab, Wear- ng only a'cotton shirt and a woolen cloak, they suffered in the bitter weather, and many died of cold. Once a band of raiders set out to cut the railway neer Maan, ° They marched from the sweltering heat of Akaba for sixty'miles, and then camp- ed for the might on a snow-topped hill which looked, they said, "like a negro wearing a white 'skull-cap." . With their camels barrvicked for protection against the wall of a gulley, they lay down on the far side of the gulley and slept. At dawn, when they awoke, they found all their camels buried underneath a drift of snow, from Things did not always go so well| toward sh Empire In Colloboration with How an Oxford Scholar and a Descendant of Mohomet Led the Bedouins to Victory a shattering roar, a great cloud .of smoke and dust, the clanking of iron, the crushing of woodwork, and the whirring noise of steel fragments sailing through the air. Vast Stores Captured. Until the smoke cleared there was complete silence. Then the two Lewis guns began raking the Turkish troops as they pumped from the trucks. The Bedouin charged and looted the tfain from end to end. Seventy tons of food-stuffs were captured in this raid, besides many prisoners and military stores, In the pockets of the wounded Turk- ish guards were found some duplicate way-bills. These Colonel Lawrence signed and left on the guard's body to be found by the Turks. The raid- ers then loaded their camels with the plundered goods and made off before the relief parties of Turks, hurrying the railway from several dir ections, could reach them. From time to time Colonel Law- rence left his Arabs for a visit to Gen- eral Allenby, He would appear in his Bedouin dress at General Headquar- ters, stay a few hours or a day, and return to Akaba with new plans and instructions. Sometimes he was pick- ed up from the Arab zone by aero- plane: but once or twice, 1 believe, he actually passed through the Turkish lines in Arab dress. Once he jour- neyed as a Bedouin to. Damascus (then 150 miiles behind the Turkish front), conferred in the city with cer< tain friends of the British, and refurn- ed with valuable information. All this while there was a price on his head of $10,000 offered by the Turks. Aeroplanes Played Great Part. Aeroplanes played a great part in the linking of Feisul's army with the British forces in Palestine. = Several British machines were stationed at Akaba. Each of their pilots and ob- servers, whenever he went into the air took with him an Arab bernous (head-dress) and a small book con- taining phrases in Arabic. If he were forced to land in a wild country any distance from his base, he would sub- stitute the head dress for his flying cap, for the bernous would useful in placating any fanatic ngmads who might app Then, reading from the book 'of phrases, he would ask the nearest Arab to guide them back to Akabd, promising him by way of inducement 8 bribe in golden sover- eigns. . The Arab campaign of liberation was crowned by a magnificent dash to Deraa and Damascus as part of the last great victory whereby General Allenby overwhelmed the Turks. a Colonel Lawrence and & few otler British officers a force of a thou- sand - Arabs, includi camel Sorps, vickers detachments, four guick-fi guns, two British aeroplanes an three armoured cars, set -out from Akabd early in September, They trekked over 290 miles of desert, wi . | only three wells on the way, to Azarak Quarrels A n Their Own Ranks. Apt the Turks and valry Wins Naval Victory. in r, there were of quarrels and from thence set out for Deraa. The armored cars, meanwhile made a lone attack on the Pi Railway, of Hi g before a rched bridge, the crews left and destroyed it with 150 Afterwards i z E i +i 3 5 i i i i E =< x | it x fel £ g : el CAPTAIN FRANCIS YATES BROWN a looked at the great aeroplane, "is au eagle. The rest are mosquitoes." 'Blocks Turkish Retreat. The Arab force next placed stsell between ascus and "Deraa, and thus blocked the line of yvotreat for large forces of Turks south of them. The Turkish leaders received exag- gerated reports of their strength and in consequence exacuated Deraa, leav- ing behind them six complete trains. @ Arabs reached 'Sheikh where an aeroplane drop a 'mes. sage that two columns of Turks were advancing toward them. Therefore they left Sheikh Saad to attack the smaller of these two columns. They came into contact with the enemy at Tafas, and drove them out of it. Be- fore leavi the village the Com« mander of the Turkish rearguard com- manded the slaughter of all the in- habitants. These included some twenty small children, and abouf forty wo- men, most of 'whom were killed with lances and rifles. especially re- Yolting sight seen by the Arab leaders was that of a pregnant woman who hal been forced down on a saw-bay- onet. In the forefront of the Arabs' force with Colonel Lawrence and old Auda, was Talal the Sheikh of Tafaz. Have ing been forced to witness the mai sacre of his own villagers, he gave a horrible cry, «wrapped his head-cloth about his face, spurred. his horse on and rocking in the saddle, galloped in- to the midst of the retiring h column. Riddled with machine-gun bullets both he and his horse fell dead on the Turkish lance-points. Enraged by the massacre, the Arabs attacked relentlessly. They cut the column into three and altogether de- stroyed two portions of it, taking no prisoners. A body of Arab horsemen galloped to Derra, captured the station in a whirlwind charge, destroyed what was left of the Turkish garrison, and oc- cupied the town, Soon afterward Feisul's force came in contact with the right flank of General Allenby's victorious armies, which were driving the routed Turks toward the north. Colonel Lawrence rode out to meet the outposts of the British Fourth Divis- ion and guided them into Deraa. Seeing that the Turks were utterly beaten, all the Aah popalace in Syria were rising, and with five hundred years of tyranny as gn incentive, were rounding up Turkish soldiery. Very many took service under Feisul's standard, so that he was more than strong enough to attack the only re- maining column of the 4th Turkish army. is 'been reported as 6,000 strong, but by the time Feisul number to 2,000 With some hel, Horse Artillery, i at- tacked -- at sunset re? ye e. Before the daylight had f the Turks were a scattered mob, i to escape up the slopes of Mania, where they were cut off by another Arab force that had been waiting for them. The slaughter continued until midnight, when the last few hundred Turks were taken prisoners. : eisul's fo The victorious Arab army rcde te Damascus, where the burning munition dumps, exploded by the treating Turks, turned night into re, the morale of the Turks 33 gs 2 £¥3 caught up with it Arab peasantry had reduced the 0 2 3 from .the 'British