The year is 1913 the Ottoman Turks are the dominate force in the middle east. They have dictated to the middle east since the 1500's but a war is on the way, and small Arab revolts are cracking the Iron grip of the Ottoman Empire. It is time to go to war.
OTTOMAN HELD TABUK, NORTHERN ARABIA, NOVEMBER, 1916
"Assalamu alaikum! Our spies have informed us that the Turks are heavily fortifying Tabuk," says Jehail in Arabic.
"Then we should attack now while they are still building fortifications," says Sheikh Aqbar.
"Right, I will go and prepare the men for battle," says Jehail
************************************************************************
As the men loaded their rifles Jehail told his soldiers the plan of attack. "We will attack in 30 minutes. You five," Jahail pointed to a group of five inattentive men, "go into the small mount on the eastern side of the city and pick off the guardsmen on the battlements."
"Yes sir," they said in attentive voices.
"When they over there pick off the guardsmen or the alarm is sounded, half of you will charge the front gate, the other half will capture the south and west gates. If you do capture the gates fire a flare into the sky so that the rest will know that you have been successful. The Turks will be split down the middle and it will be easy for you to advance." After Jahail finished the party formed into groups and set off for Tabuk.
************************************************************************
"Ready brothers," says Farbid in a whisper.
"Yes!" they said in unison.
"One, Two, Three!" bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!
rrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnngggggggggg, rrrrrrraaaaaaaannnnngg
"Lets get back to the camp, we have done our part," said the oldest, Farbid.
******************************************************************
Jahail was in the thick of battle, the air was stuffy with the noise of gunshots and people screaming. About an half hour went by and neither side had gained much ground. Jahail was trying hard to get to the main gate. Jahail was sure he had shot 15 men, but did freedom really mean killing people? As he was running to the gate he was thinking about all of this but suddenly felt a jolt of pain and realized that a man was on top of him. The Turk wrestled Jahail for his new shining lee-enfield rifle. Jahail had never been in so much pain in his twenty six years of life. As the Turk choked him, Jahail mustered all of his strength and punched the man in the jaw and rolled him aside. As Jahail picked up his gun he noticed that the Turk was knocked out. Jahail made his decision, If the Ottomans were going to fight for their country then he would fight for his.
Suddenly the sky turned blood red as a rocket shot into the air. A Turk said something in Turkish and then one of Jahails friends, Masheed, said, "The gate is open!"
As the Turkish army retreated they were cornered by the two advancing detachments of Arabs and dropped their weapons. Then Sheikh Aqbar emerged from among the Arab soldiers.
"Go back to your home in the mountains of Turkey. You will never be a desert people so I am giving you a chance to return home right now. If you join up with a battalion of soldiers or capture a city I will have the British tanks shoot you down", said Sheikh Aqbar
As the Turks marched out Sheikh Aqbar beckoned for someone to come over to him.
"Masheed, gather ten men and hide in the mountains next to the road on which the Turks will be traveling.
Tell me if they do any thing, strange."
"Yes Sheikh," said Masheed
"Tonight has been a long night, the Sheikh announced to everyone as Masheed walked away, go and rest. Tomorrow when the sun is low we will head to Aqaba."
************************************************************************
Jahail walked into the tent and said, "Father we did not loose much men tonight, but we will not be able to liberate another town, and we will have to leave some people to garrison Tabuk."
"Yes I understand that."
"Why are we going to Aqaba?"
"Thomas Lawrence."
"Ah yes, he is the Englishman isn't he?"
"Yes, he came from Cairo and fell in love with the Arab landscape and is staying with Emir Faisal. He also took over Aqaba this morning."
"So that is why we are going to Aqaba, to join forces, right?"
"Yes you are right, but now you should go and sleep."
******************************************************************
vrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmmmmm, vvvvvrrrrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
"Everyone to the hills! Shoot those planes! Sheikh Aqbar was yelling out commands as two Turkish, Dutch made, Fokker DVII, Biplanes strafed the camp." Bang, Bang, tttttttttttttttttttttttt. After about ten minutes of firefight someone had managed to shoot the rear stabilizer and one of the planes left and the second one followed to guard the smoking plane.
"Uggg those blasted Turks are always teasing us, said Sheikh Aqbar. Lets pack up and go to Aqaba."
TWO DAYS LATER, OUTSIDE OF AQABA, JORDAN
As Jahail rolled out of bed, he thought, yes this is the day we will meet T. E. Lawrence. Out side of the tent Jahail's Father, Sheikh Aqbar, was preparing to ride into the city, you could taste the tension in the air. Jahail was scared, what if Emir Faisal and Lawrence hadn't taken the city. What if the Arabs think that we are the Ottomans?
"Jahail, Jahail, come out here!"
"Yes Father, what is it?"
"You will be caring the revolution flag, and Johor will be caring the white flag of peace," said the Sheikh.
"Yes, I will tell Johor to ready his camel, and I will prepare my horse."
Jahail walked over to Johor and said, "Johor prepare your camel, we ride at noon."
"Yes my friend," said Johor
When everyone was ready to go, the Sheikh told everyone what was to happen. Finally he finished and said, "Today we ride for freedom, for Aqaba, and for Lawrence!" Everyone returned shouting with, "Yes, Yes, Yes." As the riders took of, the cheers were still ringing in the mountains.
******************************************************************
AQABA, BATTLEMENTS
Fareid was on guard when he thought he saw smoke, but when it got closer he realized that it was dust! He ran to fetch his master, "Lawrence. Lawrence, Lawrence, there are people approaching, they might be Turks, should we shoot?"
"No, let us look first." As Lawrence ran up the steps he pulled out his binoculars to look at the coming army. As he looked through he said, "Fareid, they are no Turk, look it is the Arabian Revolt Flag!"
"Alhamdulilah," said Fareid quietly.
"What does that mean?" said Lawrence.
"It means thank you God in Arabic."
"Alhamdulilah," said Lawrence
************************************************************************
"Open up, Open up!" said Sheikh Aqbar as he pounded on the gate.
Slowly the huge gate rocked backwards. When it finally moved open two men walked forward, one Arab, one White. The white man introduced himself as Thomas Lawrence in Arabic. Then the Arab introduced himself, "My name is Emir Faisal, ruler of this newly conquered city. This is my British friend Lawrence, he has been supplying us with our food and weapons. We are very thankful for him."
"My name is Sheikh Aqbar, my huge nomadic tribe will help you in conquering the Ottomans. Let us unite so that we will be stronger!"
"I agree, we are stronger in numbers," said the Emir.
"Then will you let us in the city?"
"Yes."
That night everyone sat around two large fires and shared stories and smoked shisha pipes. Jahail told about the siege of Tabuk and how it was a decisive win for the Arabs. Lawrence told about a firefight along the railroad. "We laid mines on the track and waited. About fifteen minutes later an Ottoman train came by and derailed, most of the men jumped out and started to fight. I myself was shot in the arm but we won and took supplies from the train. It was an excellent win."
For about two more hours the men talked and told stories. When the last shisha pipe was drained everyone signed off to their tents.
The next morning as people were eating breakfast the Emir stood up to speak. "Today we will head to Damascus, the staging ground for all Ottoman activity in the Arabian peninsula. It will be a huge battle and the British have offered us no help so there will be no air strafes from the planes."
When the Emir was done Jahail asked his father, Sheikh Aqbar, why the British would not help.
"Because they don't think that we can take the city."
"Then they do not no the power of the Arabs."
"I agree, I agree."
Later that day everyone set off for Damascus. All through the night they walked and walked and during the day they rested. Jahail was thankful that they rested during the day and traveled during the night. On the second night they came upon a oasis and filled up with water and rested for the whole day. When it was time to get up two traders walked in and traded food and water, for goods. Two more days went by until they reached Damascus. Jahail was very excited.
"Look, look, the lights of Damascus!", he said
All of the weary men looked up and cheered as they marched on the city of Damascus, with the red sun rising behind them.
Note: This story is a historical fiction, we do not know if this happened. We do know that more Arabs joined up with Emir Faisal and T.E. Lawrence. It is also true that the Arabs revolted and conquered towns and cities, like Aqaba. The Arabs did march on Damascus and took it over. Soon after that the Great War ended and the Ottoman Empire dissolved and the Anatolia remains became the stable country of Turkey. The rest of the Arab world was not so lucky. Britain and France divided the countries up against the original plan, resulting in fighting. That territorial fight is still going on today.
OTTOMAN HELD TABUK, NORTHERN ARABIA, NOVEMBER, 1916
"Assalamu alaikum! Our spies have informed us that the Turks are heavily fortifying Tabuk," says Jehail in Arabic.
"Then we should attack now while they are still building fortifications," says Sheikh Aqbar.
"Right, I will go and prepare the men for battle," says Jehail
************************************************************************
As the men loaded their rifles Jehail told his soldiers the plan of attack. "We will attack in 30 minutes. You five," Jahail pointed to a group of five inattentive men, "go into the small mount on the eastern side of the city and pick off the guardsmen on the battlements."
"Yes sir," they said in attentive voices.
"When they over there pick off the guardsmen or the alarm is sounded, half of you will charge the front gate, the other half will capture the south and west gates. If you do capture the gates fire a flare into the sky so that the rest will know that you have been successful. The Turks will be split down the middle and it will be easy for you to advance." After Jahail finished the party formed into groups and set off for Tabuk.
************************************************************************
"Ready brothers," says Farbid in a whisper.
"Yes!" they said in unison.
"One, Two, Three!" bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!
rrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnngggggggggg, rrrrrrraaaaaaaannnnngg
"Lets get back to the camp, we have done our part," said the oldest, Farbid.
******************************************************************
Jahail was in the thick of battle, the air was stuffy with the noise of gunshots and people screaming. About an half hour went by and neither side had gained much ground. Jahail was trying hard to get to the main gate. Jahail was sure he had shot 15 men, but did freedom really mean killing people? As he was running to the gate he was thinking about all of this but suddenly felt a jolt of pain and realized that a man was on top of him. The Turk wrestled Jahail for his new shining lee-enfield rifle. Jahail had never been in so much pain in his twenty six years of life. As the Turk choked him, Jahail mustered all of his strength and punched the man in the jaw and rolled him aside. As Jahail picked up his gun he noticed that the Turk was knocked out. Jahail made his decision, If the Ottomans were going to fight for their country then he would fight for his.
Suddenly the sky turned blood red as a rocket shot into the air. A Turk said something in Turkish and then one of Jahails friends, Masheed, said, "The gate is open!"
As the Turkish army retreated they were cornered by the two advancing detachments of Arabs and dropped their weapons. Then Sheikh Aqbar emerged from among the Arab soldiers.
"Go back to your home in the mountains of Turkey. You will never be a desert people so I am giving you a chance to return home right now. If you join up with a battalion of soldiers or capture a city I will have the British tanks shoot you down", said Sheikh Aqbar
As the Turks marched out Sheikh Aqbar beckoned for someone to come over to him.
"Masheed, gather ten men and hide in the mountains next to the road on which the Turks will be traveling.
Tell me if they do any thing, strange."
"Yes Sheikh," said Masheed
"Tonight has been a long night, the Sheikh announced to everyone as Masheed walked away, go and rest. Tomorrow when the sun is low we will head to Aqaba."
************************************************************************
Jahail walked into the tent and said, "Father we did not loose much men tonight, but we will not be able to liberate another town, and we will have to leave some people to garrison Tabuk."
"Yes I understand that."
"Why are we going to Aqaba?"
"Thomas Lawrence."
"Ah yes, he is the Englishman isn't he?"
"Yes, he came from Cairo and fell in love with the Arab landscape and is staying with Emir Faisal. He also took over Aqaba this morning."
"So that is why we are going to Aqaba, to join forces, right?"
"Yes you are right, but now you should go and sleep."
******************************************************************
vrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmmmmm, vvvvvrrrrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
"Everyone to the hills! Shoot those planes! Sheikh Aqbar was yelling out commands as two Turkish, Dutch made, Fokker DVII, Biplanes strafed the camp." Bang, Bang, tttttttttttttttttttttttt. After about ten minutes of firefight someone had managed to shoot the rear stabilizer and one of the planes left and the second one followed to guard the smoking plane.
"Uggg those blasted Turks are always teasing us, said Sheikh Aqbar. Lets pack up and go to Aqaba."
TWO DAYS LATER, OUTSIDE OF AQABA, JORDAN
As Jahail rolled out of bed, he thought, yes this is the day we will meet T. E. Lawrence. Out side of the tent Jahail's Father, Sheikh Aqbar, was preparing to ride into the city, you could taste the tension in the air. Jahail was scared, what if Emir Faisal and Lawrence hadn't taken the city. What if the Arabs think that we are the Ottomans?
"Jahail, Jahail, come out here!"
"Yes Father, what is it?"
"You will be caring the revolution flag, and Johor will be caring the white flag of peace," said the Sheikh.
"Yes, I will tell Johor to ready his camel, and I will prepare my horse."
Jahail walked over to Johor and said, "Johor prepare your camel, we ride at noon."
"Yes my friend," said Johor
When everyone was ready to go, the Sheikh told everyone what was to happen. Finally he finished and said, "Today we ride for freedom, for Aqaba, and for Lawrence!" Everyone returned shouting with, "Yes, Yes, Yes." As the riders took of, the cheers were still ringing in the mountains.
******************************************************************
AQABA, BATTLEMENTS
Fareid was on guard when he thought he saw smoke, but when it got closer he realized that it was dust! He ran to fetch his master, "Lawrence. Lawrence, Lawrence, there are people approaching, they might be Turks, should we shoot?"
"No, let us look first." As Lawrence ran up the steps he pulled out his binoculars to look at the coming army. As he looked through he said, "Fareid, they are no Turk, look it is the Arabian Revolt Flag!"
"Alhamdulilah," said Fareid quietly.
"What does that mean?" said Lawrence.
"It means thank you God in Arabic."
"Alhamdulilah," said Lawrence
************************************************************************
"Open up, Open up!" said Sheikh Aqbar as he pounded on the gate.
Slowly the huge gate rocked backwards. When it finally moved open two men walked forward, one Arab, one White. The white man introduced himself as Thomas Lawrence in Arabic. Then the Arab introduced himself, "My name is Emir Faisal, ruler of this newly conquered city. This is my British friend Lawrence, he has been supplying us with our food and weapons. We are very thankful for him."
"My name is Sheikh Aqbar, my huge nomadic tribe will help you in conquering the Ottomans. Let us unite so that we will be stronger!"
"I agree, we are stronger in numbers," said the Emir.
"Then will you let us in the city?"
"Yes."
That night everyone sat around two large fires and shared stories and smoked shisha pipes. Jahail told about the siege of Tabuk and how it was a decisive win for the Arabs. Lawrence told about a firefight along the railroad. "We laid mines on the track and waited. About fifteen minutes later an Ottoman train came by and derailed, most of the men jumped out and started to fight. I myself was shot in the arm but we won and took supplies from the train. It was an excellent win."
For about two more hours the men talked and told stories. When the last shisha pipe was drained everyone signed off to their tents.
The next morning as people were eating breakfast the Emir stood up to speak. "Today we will head to Damascus, the staging ground for all Ottoman activity in the Arabian peninsula. It will be a huge battle and the British have offered us no help so there will be no air strafes from the planes."
When the Emir was done Jahail asked his father, Sheikh Aqbar, why the British would not help.
"Because they don't think that we can take the city."
"Then they do not no the power of the Arabs."
"I agree, I agree."
Later that day everyone set off for Damascus. All through the night they walked and walked and during the day they rested. Jahail was thankful that they rested during the day and traveled during the night. On the second night they came upon a oasis and filled up with water and rested for the whole day. When it was time to get up two traders walked in and traded food and water, for goods. Two more days went by until they reached Damascus. Jahail was very excited.
"Look, look, the lights of Damascus!", he said
All of the weary men looked up and cheered as they marched on the city of Damascus, with the red sun rising behind them.
Note: This story is a historical fiction, we do not know if this happened. We do know that more Arabs joined up with Emir Faisal and T.E. Lawrence. It is also true that the Arabs revolted and conquered towns and cities, like Aqaba. The Arabs did march on Damascus and took it over. Soon after that the Great War ended and the Ottoman Empire dissolved and the Anatolia remains became the stable country of Turkey. The rest of the Arab world was not so lucky. Britain and France divided the countries up against the original plan, resulting in fighting. That territorial fight is still going on today.
The Arabian Penninsula, T.E. Lawrence make for great stories. Yours is very interesting. Has your experience there inspired you to read or re-read Lawrence of Arabia?
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