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File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎6r] (20/834)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (411 folios). It was created in 1917-1920. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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southernmost of these, took the cables along the track to the
midmost (the firing position), and put two Lewis guns in the
northernmost, from which point they were in a position to rake
the embankment. From this northern bridge ran up westward
a two-foot deep torrent bed, spotted with broom bushes. In
these the men and guns hid till wanted.
On the 6 th a train (twelve wagons) came down from
Maan at 8 a.m. It arrived only 200 yards in advance of the
lurkish patrol (of nine men), but this gave us time to get into
position. From the open bed of the valley in front of the line,
where I was sitting to give the signal for firing, it was curious to
see the train running along the top of the bank with the
machine-gunners and exploders dancing war-dances beneath the
bridges. I he Arabs behind me were beautifully hidden, and
kept perfectly still.
The explosion shattered the fire-box of the locomotive
(No. 153, Hejaz), burst many of the tubes, threw the l.c.
cylinder into the air, cleaned out the cab, warped the frame, bent
the two near driving wheels and broke their axles. I consider
it past repair. Its tender, and the front wagon were also
destroyed, wfith one arch of the bridge. The couplings broke,
and the last four wagons drifted backwards downhill out of fire.
1 was *too late to stop them with a stone. A Kaimmakam,
General Staff, appeared at one window, and fired at us with a
Mauser pistol, but a Bedouin blazed into him at twenty yards, and
he fell back out of sight and I hope damaged. [We have heard
since he got back safe to Maan: he was one, Nazmi Bey.] The
eight remaining wagons were captured in six minutes. They
contained about seventy tons of foodstuffs, “ urgently required
at Medain Salih for Ibn Rashid,” according to way-bills captured
with the lot. We carried off about a third of this, and destroyed
another third or more. The Turkish killed amount to about
fifteen (twenty ; see p. 415). Some civilians were released, and
four officers taken prisoner.
The plundering occupied all the energies of our Bedouins,
and Turkish counter-attacks came up unopposed from N. and S.
I rolled up the electric cables first of all, and as they are very
heavy and I was single-handed, it took nearly three quarters of
an hour to do this. Then two chiefs of the Darausha came to
look for me. I went up to the top of the bank, hoping to fire
the train, but found about forty Turks coming up fast and only
400 yards off. As the nearest Bedouins were 1,000 yards away
and they were all on foot, driving their laden camels at top
speed westward, I felt that it would be foolish to delay longer
alone on the spot, and so rode off with the two Arabs who had
come back for me. We all reached Rum safely on the 7 th, and
Akaba on the 8 th, where I found telegrams asking me to go to
Suez and on to G.H.Q., E.E.F.
The raid was intended as an experiment only, and was most
successful. The automatic mine failed, but I proved able to

About this item

Content

The volume consists of individual copies of the Arab Bulletin produced by the Arab Bureau at the Savoy Hotel, Cairo numbers 66-114. These publications contain wartime, and post-war intelligence obtained by British sources. They deal with economic, military, and political matters in Turkey, the Middle East, Arabia, and elsewhere, which – in the opinion of British officials – affect the ‘Arab movement’; the bulletins cover a wide range of topics and key personalities.

The volume contains the following maps:

  • A map of Central Arabia showing St John Philby's route from Uqair to Jidda 17 November to 31 December 1917: folio 103.
  • Sketch map prepared from RNAS photographs and reconnaissance by HMS City of Oxford of Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Mur February to March 1918 : folio 170.
  • Sketch map of Hejaz (1919): folio 317.
  • Tribal sketch map of the Hadhramaut ‘showing only tribes of fighting value’: folios 333v.

Towards the back of the volume is a small amount of correspondence respecting the distribution of Notes on the Middle East ; the Arab Bulletin was superseded by this publication. Copies of numbers 3-4 of this publication can also be found at the back of the volume.

Tables of content can be found at the front of each issue. A small amount of content is in French.

Extent and format
1 volume (411 folios)
Arrangement

The Arab Bulletins are arranged in numerical order from the front to the back of the file. The Notes on the Middle East follow on from the bulletins at the back of the file in reverse numerical order.

The subject 759 (Arab Bulletins) consists of two volumes. IOR/L/PS/10/657-658.

Physical characteristics

Condition: the edges of some of the folios towards the back of the volume have suffered damage to their edges due to general wear and tear. The affected folios are 389-390, 407-409, and 412.

Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 413; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. The front cover and the leading flyleaf have not been foliated. A previous foliation sequence, which is present between ff 357-363 and ff 374-412 and is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.

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English in Latin script
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File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎6r] (20/834), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/658, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100048056854.0x000015> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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