Editing T. E. Lawrence (section)

===Capture of Aqaba===
{{Main|Battle of Aqaba}}
[[File:Lcamel.jpg|thumb|upright|Lawrence at [[Aqaba]], 1917]]

In 1917, Lawrence proposed a joint action with the Arab [[Irregular military|irregulars]] and forces including [[Auda Abu Tayi]], who had previously been in the employ of the Ottomans, against the strategically located but lightly defended town of Aqaba on the Red Sea.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JKpAAQAAMAAJ |title=The Naval Review |publisher=[[Naval Review (magazine)|Naval Review]] |year=1911 |volume=4–6 |pages=103–105 |chapter=The bombardment of Akaba}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Naval Review |publisher=[[Naval Review (magazine)|Naval Review]] |year=1925 |edition=4th |volume=13 |pages=648–666 |chapter=Naval Operation in the Red Sea 1916–1917}}</ref><ref>"Egyptian Expeditionary Force". ''Operations in the Gulf of Akaba, Red Sea HMS ''Raven'' II''. July—August 1916. National Archives, Kew London. File: AIR 1 /2284/ 209/75/8.</ref> Aqaba could have been attacked from the sea but, assuming it were captured, the narrow defiles leading inland through the mountains were strongly defended and would have been very difficult to assault.{{sfn|Graves|1934|p=161|ps=: "Akaba was so strongly protected by the hills, elaborately fortified for miles back, that if a landing were attempted from the sea a small Turkish force could hold up a whole Allied division in the defiles."}} The expedition was led by Sharif Nasir of Medina.{{sfn|Wilson|1989|p=400}}

Lawrence avoided informing his British superiors about the details of the planned inland attack, due to concern that it would be blocked as contrary to French interests.{{sfn|Wilson|1989|p=397}} The expedition departed from [[Wejh]] on 9 May,{{sfn|Wilson|1989|p=406}} and Aqaba fell to the Arab forces on 6 July, after a surprise overland attack that took the Turkish defences from behind. After Aqaba, [[Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby|General Sir Edmund Allenby]], the new commander-in-chief of the [[Egyptian Expeditionary Force]], agreed to Lawrence's strategy for the revolt.{{sfn|Wilson|1989|pp=420–426}} Lawrence now held a powerful position as an adviser to Faisal and a person who had Allenby's confidence, as Allenby acknowledged after the war:

{{blockquote|I gave him a free hand. His cooperation was marked by the utmost loyalty, and I never had anything but praise for his work, which, indeed, was invaluable throughout the campaign. He was the mainspring of the Arab movement and knew their language, their manners and their mentality.<ref>{{Cite news |date=19 May 1935 |title=Strategist of the Desert Dies in Military Hospital |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/1935/may/19/fromthearchive |access-date=16 August 2012}}</ref>}}