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T. E. Lawrence to his family
Wejh 12.2.17 Here I am, back in Wejh again, sitting in our funny house trying to
write or think or work. I'm afraid there are too many interruptions for
much success. Newcombe is here, and I hope things are going well. I got
a letter from Arnie the other day pleading for more news of what the
Sherifian forces are doing. Well you know, it is not my fault. They do a
great deal, but some people - not themselves - seem to wish to keep the
progress of the campaign a secret. As a matter of fact progress is
difficult. The Arabs of the Hejaz are all for the Sherif, some keenly
enough to volunteer, others less keen, but all well-wishers. Only, they
are tribesmen, and as such are rebellious by instinct. They hate the
Turks, but they don’t want to obey anyone’s orders, and in consequence
they turn out only as a mob of snipers or guerilla-fighters. They are
wonderfully active, quite intelligent, and do what they do do fairly
well. They are however not fit to meet disciplined troops in the open,
and it will be a long time before they are. These details will give you a fair idea of the sort of campaign it is.
There is a bunch of about 12,000 Turks in Medina and the neighbourhood,
clinging to certain important water-supplies and roads South and West of
Medina, and surrounded, on all sides except the Railway, by Arabs. The
Turks are also holding the Hejaz Railway, which we now threaten from
Tebuk downwards, but not as yet in any force. The Arabs proved incapable
of taking Medina, held by its present garrison, and the Medina garrison
proved unable to advance through the Arabs against Mecca. So now we have
shifted part of our forces North to this place, and the struggle for the
Railway will probably be the feature of this second phase of the Hejaz
Campaign. The Arab Movement is a curious thing. It is really very small and weak
in its beginning, and anybody who had command of the sea could put an
end to it in three or four days. It has however capacity for
expansion - in the same degree - over a very wide area. It is as though you
imagine a nation or agitation that may be very wide, but never very
deep, since all the Arab countries are agricultural or pastoral, and all
poor today, as a result of Turkish efforts in the past. On the other hand the Arab Movement is shallow, not because the Arabs do
not care, but because they are few - and in their smallness of number
(which is imposed by their poverty of country) lies a good deal of their
strength, for they are perhaps the most elusive enemy an army ever had,
and inhabit one of the most trying countries in the world for civilised
warfare. So that on the whole you may write me down a reasonable
optimist. I hope that the show may go as we wish, and that the Turkish
flag may disappear from Arabia. It is indiscreet only to ask what Arabia
is. It has an East and a West and a South border - but where or what it is
on the top no man knoweth. I fancy myself it is up to the Arabs to find
out! Talk about Palestine or Syria or Mesopotamia is not opportune, when
these three countries - with every chance - have made no effort towards
freedom for themselves.
I wonder what the censor will make of this letter? It may contain news
for him, but I'm afraid precious little to the enemy! However you never
know what they will do, and there is a "Hush" policy over the Red Sea
and Arabia which causes a good deal of amusement to the Arabs - and to us
who are down here.
I hope to be able to send you some photographs of the Sherif and of
Feisul and the rest of us shortly. Please wait in peace till then.
Incidentally I’m to have no post towards you now for about ten days.
Patience!
N.
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