1917-March-8-9
We had been following our target for several hours heading toward the Red Sea, so our most obvious assumption was that the sabotage operation clearly originated from the Red Sea using British explosives.
The man was not moving very quickly since he seemed somewhat lost, constantly looking around without really understanding what was happening around him, so I sincerely hoped that the man we had spent all this time tracking was not completely lost.
But we kept following him while staying hidden in the distance, always keeping him in sight, until we saw a group of camel riders spot him, approach him, and begin speaking with him.
He quickly pointed back toward where he had come from, so he was most likely explaining what had happened to the men he worked for.
Noticing they had no idea we were right behind them, barely a kilometer away, we continued riding until I began to smell the sea in the air. The scent only grew stronger the farther we advanced until we reached what looked like a coastal settlement on the Red Sea that had to be under the control of the Arab rebels.
''This isn't a small sabotage operations base'' I said while looking at the place through my rifle scope.
''Not at all... there are too many soldiers in the area for this to be just a small group of saboteurs. It looks more like some kind of forward operating base... or a staging point for an offensive'' one of my men said while observing the place.
''They're receiving ships... this isn't some small outpost. It's clearly meant for a major sabotage campaign, something to keep the railway permanently cut or down for a long time and leave the Ottomans in a terrible position for the defense of Medina'' another of my men said from horseback while observing the settlement.
''Yeah, we may have found the place where the next attacks will come from... good, we head back, gather the others, and hit them. The place still looks fresh, so it doesn't have many defenses. With the elevation they should have watchtowers on these very dunes because they're completely exposed to us blowing their heads off... so if we strike fast and hard we can use the terrain to our advantage, kill many of them, and try to get information from prisoners if they talk'' I said while turning my horse around.
My men nodded and followed me on horseback, and before long we were galloping back across the desert toward our base of operations, stopping only to water the horses and check our direction with the compass to make sure we stayed on course.
Which we did. Once we returned to our base, we sent telegraph messages to all the hunting groups and quickly regrouped.
Around 1,400 men since we couldn't simply leave the area undefended moved through the desert on horses and camels carrying enough supplies for an attack that should not last more than a few hours, although if everything stayed the same as yesterday this would simply be another battle.
So, after sending small advance groups ahead to avoid running into more Arabs on the way, we reached the target we had scouted earlier and it seemed that compared to yesterday the place was now even more crowded.
There were more ships, more soldiers, and it looked like they had gathered large quantities of supplies in the area.
So we immediately began using the terrain to our advantage, and before long my jaeger commandos were spread across several positions where they could observe most of the Arab base of operations.
Covering the entire slope, hundreds of rifles quickly positioned themselves in the sand ready to fire.
Meanwhile the rest formed into assault units armed with submachine guns and grenades so they could clear the area with extreme speed, ensuring the attack would end quickly due to the Arabs' lack of security measures.
The moment we were ready, the sniper shots began echoing while my best marksmen enjoyed an absolute field day shooting at so many targets.
I simply watched through my scope as Arabs dropped while running around trying to understand what was happening.
But they died in huge numbers, dozens falling every few seconds as German rounds tore through them while they abandoned everything and tried to find cover from whatever they thought was attacking them.
Several minutes passed with hundreds of Arabs dead, their bodies scattered through the streets and warehouses where they had been working. Very few defenders dared to expose themselves at the windows since most had hidden inside buildings or in streets that were not exposed to fire from our position, so once we realized nobody was going to stop us while we descended the dune.
We advanced rapidly toward the town, though not running since we were receiving covering fire and could hear the sniper shots while entering the outskirts of the settlement, opening fire on anyone who tried to look outside to see what was happening.
And just like that, without any real trouble, we reached the outer buildings of the town where I heard people speaking inside several houses.
''Grenade'' I said while extending my hand.
Someone pulled a grenade from his backpack and handed it to me. I armed it, waited a couple of seconds, and threw it through the window.
I immediately heard Arabs screaming whatever the hell they were shouting before it was all followed by a powerful explosion that shook the inside of the house and left only someone screaming in agony at the top of his lungs, the cries slowly growing weaker.
''Just like we trained. Urban combat'' I said while leaning around the corner and raising my submachine gun.
The sound of automatic weapons echoed through the area while shouting in the local language increased along with the curses in German.
We advanced securing the streets whenever possible. The moment we tried entering the city through some of the buildings, we saw one of my squads massacre a patrol of defenders, emptying an entire magazine into the group that had been waiting for us.
The sound of explosions quickly began echoing everywhere, especially the sound of wood being ripped apart from the houses while grenades flew in every direction, crashing through windows as we continued advancing.
It did not take long before we pushed deeper into the city, leaving behind only smoking houses filled with mangled bodies.
Gunfire kept echoing the farther we advanced into the city along with increasingly frequent explosions since apparently nobody hesitated anymore before throwing a grenade through a window rather than clearing the building in front of us room by room.
And so, during long stretches of constant clashes between our forces and the Arab fighters who were resisting us more and more desperately as we approached the city port, we continued our march of total destruction through the streets.
I squeezed the trigger and several rounds tore toward an Arab aiming his rifle at soldiers down another street. I quickly saw the man fall backward inside the house he had been firing from, and I spotted movement behind him.
So I pulled out another grenade, armed it, and immediately threw it. It flew forward, struck the edge of the window frame, bounced inside the building, and moments later the massive explosion followed.
''Damn... the heat keeps getting worse'' I said while wiping my forearm across my forehead, breathing heavily from the heat.
''That's just how it is'' one of my men replied while suffering from the heat just as much as I was.
I shook my head and we kept moving, covering the other groups advancing alongside us until we reached the building near the port that was clearly far more heavily defended, although among the dead we noticed several British officers.
We quickly began clearing the surrounding buildings and taking positions inside the ones that were empty because this would become a siege due to the size of the structure and all the possible rooms inside where defenders could barricade themselves and kill many of us.
While we were doing that, we ordered my jaeger commandos to come down since aside from shooting anyone trying to flee there was no longer anyone left for them to shoot from those elevated positions. It did not take us long to completely surround the place, and we managed to capture two of the local ships although the vessels that had not docked simply fled the area.
While the troops began assaulting the Arab command center in the area, we wasted no time looting their supplies.
''Ah, shit... look at how many explosives they have here... this would've definitely been a nightmare for the Ottomans'' someone said while staring at the warehouse near the port.
''Good thing nobody decided to throw a grenade in here or we would've flown apart in every direction'' I replied while looking around the place.
''So what do we do with all this?'' the soldier asked while waiting for orders.
''For now we leave it as it is. We'll decide later because I doubt this stuff would be useless to us, so we could simply blow it all to hell if needed'' I answered while listening to the explosions still coming from inside the command center.
After checking the food and water warehouses, we began loading everything onto the carts they had available since at the very least we would return to our positions fully supplied.
Almost half an hour of assaults and attacks passed before the last defenders inside the building finally surrendered and came out with their hands raised.
''What a bunch of idiots. Did the Arabs forget they're rebels? The only people walking out of here alive are the British because we actually have to respect the laws of war'' I said while watching dozens of Arabs emerge from the building.
''Do we shoot them?'' one of my men asked.
''Not yet. They need to be interrogated. We need to know what they were doing here because the Ottomans never told us the Arabs had taken this port'' I said while leaning my back against one of the half-destroyed walls.
''Karl, you speak English, right?'' one of my men asked after speaking with several British officers.
''Yeah, I do'' I replied while pushing myself off the wall and walking toward the British officers to collect their basic information.
''Alright, Brits... names and ranks. You're the only ones walking out of here alive'' I said with a faint smile while looking at the wounded and filthy British survivors.
Several officers began giving me their names and ranks and I wrote them down one by one.
''Thomas Edward Lawrence, Captain'' the prisoner said.
''Eh?... ha, ha, ha... so you're the British liaison rat working with the Arab revolt leader'' I said with a grin, remembering that I had heard of him before.
The man lowered his head and licked his lips without saying a word.
''Search carefully. We may have one of the leaders of the Arab revolt in our hands'' I shouted to my men while they dragged more prisoners out of the building.
It did not take long before an Arab man dressed almost like a Brit emerged from the place.
''Looks like we hit the fucking lottery'' I said with a smile.
''Tell me, Lawrence... did you ever tell him about the secret agreement between France and your people about how you're planning to divide up Arab lands while throwing aside all your earlier promises?'' I asked while staring at the British soldier who silently stared back at me.
When he gave no answer, I continued speaking.
''Because I'm going to make sure your friend here learns exactly what the British are planning for this place. We'll see how eager they still are to keep fighting afterward'' I said with a smile while turning toward the prisoner.
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