LAWRENCE THOMAS EDWARD (1888-1935) [LAWRENCE D’ARABIE].

Lot 134
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Estimation :
7000 - 8000 EUR
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Result : 9 100EUR
LAWRENCE THOMAS EDWARD (1888-1935) [LAWRENCE D’ARABIE].
Signed autograph letter, signed « T.E. Lawrence », Akaba 25 September 1917, to Major Walter STIRLING; 4 pages in-8 (slight traces of rust); in English. Letter sent to Major Walter F. Stirling (1880- 1958), member of the military staff of General Edmund Allenby (1861-1936), commander of the British Empire’s Egyptian Expeditionary Force. The letter describes in detail an attack on a Turkish train. Stirling was tied to Allenby’s staff, who would later enter Damascus along with Lawrence and earn the rank of Colonel. In this important letter, Lawrence graphically outlines his raid on a train following his thwarted attempt to take the strategically important Mudawara station, south of Maan. “[...] the last stunt was the hold up of a train. It had two locomotives and we gutted one with an electric mine. This rather jumbled up the trucks which were full of Turks shooting at us. We had a Lewis, and flung bullets through the side so they hopped out and took cover behind the embankment and shot at us between the wheels, at 50 yards. Then we tried a Stokes gun and two beautiful shots dropped right in the middle of them. They couldn’t stand that (12 died on the spot) and bolted away to the East [...] Unfortunately for them the Lewis covered the open stretch. The whole job took ten minutes and they lost 70 killed, 30 wounded, 80 prisoners and about 25 got away…”
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