Battle of Aqaba Battle of Aqaba ( 6 July 1917 ) was fought for the Jordanian port of Aqaba . The attacking forces of the Arab Revolt , led by Auda ibu Tayi and advised by T . E . Lawrence ( " Lawrence of Arabia " ) , were victorious over the Turkish defenders . Background . Following an unsuccessful attack on Medina , forces of the Arab Revolt under Emir Faisal I were on the defensive against the Turks . In the spring of 1917 , Arab forces moved north to seize the Red Sea ports of Yenbo and Wejh , allowing them to regain the initiative , but neither the Arabs nor their British allies could agree on a subsequent plan of action . The Arabs began a series of attacks on the Hejaz Railway , and contemplated another campaign against Medina , but with British troops stationary in front of Gaza , it seemed they weren ' t in a position to succeed . The Turkish government had sent Arab divisions of its army , which held many pro - Revolt units , to the front lines , depriving Faisal and his allies of much - needed reinforcements . Lawrence , sent by General Archibald Murray , commander of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force , to act as a military advisor to Faisal , convinced the latter to attack Aqaba . Aqaba was a Turkish - garrisoned port in Jordan , which would threaten British forces operating in Palestine ; the Turks had also used it as a base during their 1915 attack on the Suez Canal . It was also suggested by Faisal that the port be taken as a means for the British to supply his Arab forces as they moved further north . Though he did not take part in the attack itself ( his cousin Sherif Nasir rode along as the leader of his forces ) , Faisal lent forty of his men to Lawrence . Lawrence also met with Auda ibu Tayi , leader of the northern Howeitat tribe of Bedouin , who agreed to lend himself and a large number of his men to the expedition . Lawrence informed his British colleagues of the planned expedition , but they apparently did not take him seriously , expecting it to fail . Aqaba was not in and of itself a major military obstacle ; a small village at the time , it was not actually garrisoned by the Turks , though the Turks did keep a small , 300 - man garrison at the mouth of the Wadi Itm to protect from landward attack via the Sinai Peninsula . The British Royal Navy occasionally shelled Aqaba , and in late 1916 had briefly landed a party of Marines ashore there , though a lack of harbor or landing beaches made an amphibious assault impractical . The British feared that Aqaba would threaten their flank as Murray ' s troops advanced into Palestine , or could be used as a base for German submarines in the Red Sea . The main obstacle to a successful landward attack on the town was the large Nefud Desert , believed by many to be impassable . Battle and Campaign . Prelude . The expedition started moving towards Aqaba in May . Despite the heat of the desert , the seasoned Bedouins encountered few obstacles aside from occasional harassment from small bands of Arabs paid off by the Turks ; they lost more men to attacks by snakes and scorpions than to enemy action . During the expedition , Auda and Lawrence ' s forces also did severe damage to the Hejaz Railway . Auda and his men reached the Wadi Sirhan region , occupied by the Rualla tribe . Auda paid 6 , 000 pounds in gold to their leader to allow his men to use Wadi Sirhan as a base . Lawrence ' s plan was to convince the Turks that the target of his attack was Damascus , rather than Aqaba . At one point in this expedition , he went on a solitary reconnaissance expedition , destroying a railroad bridge at Baalbek . Lawrence did this largely to convince the Turks that the Arab force - of which they had received vague reports - was moving towards Damascus or Aleppo . The expedition then approached Daraa , and captured a railroad station nearby . This action confirmed for the Turks , who had heretofore been misled as to the Arab army ' s intentions , that Aqaba was indeed their target . A squadron of 400 Turkish cavalry was sent after them , but Auda ' s men were able to avoid them . Abu al Lasan and Aqaba . The actual battle for Aqaba occurred for the most part at a Turkish blockhouse at Abu al Lasan , about halfway between Aqaba and the town of Ma ' an . A group of separate Arab rebels , acting in conjunction with the expedition , had seized the blockhouse a few days before , but a Turkish infantry battalion arrived on the scene and recaptured it . The Turks then attacked a small , nearby encampment of Arabs and killed several of them . After hearing of this , Auda personally led an attack on the Turkish troops there , attacking at mid - day on July 2 . The charge was a wild success . Turkish resistance was slight ; the Arabs brutally massacred hundreds of Turks as revenge before their leaders could restrain them . In all , three hundred Turks were killed and another 300 taken prisoner , in exchange for the loss of two Arabs killed and a handful of wounded . Lawrence was nearly killed in the action ; he accidentally shot the camel he was riding on in the head with his pistol , but was fortunately thrown out of harm ' s way when he fell . Auda was grazed numerous times , with his favorite pair of field glasses being destroyed , but was otherwise unharmed . Meanwhile , a small group of British naval vessels appeared offshore of Aqaba itself and began shelling it . At this point , Lawrence , Auda , and Nasir had rallied their troops ; their total force had risen to 5 , 000 men by a local Bedouin who , with the defeat of the Turks at Lasan , now openly joined Lawrence ' s expedition . This force maneuvered themselves past the outer works of Aqaba ' s defensive lines , approached the gates of Aqaba , and its garrison surrendered without further struggle . Aftermath / Consequences . Lawrence traveled across the Sinai Peninsula with a small bodyguard to personally inform the British army in Cairo , now under General Edmund Allenby , that Aqaba had fallen . Arriving at the Suez Canal , Lawrence phoned Cairo HQ to tell of the success , and also arranged for a naval transport of supplies to Aqaba . Lawrence arrived in Cairo a few days later and conferred with Allenby , who agreed to supply the Arab forces there with arms , supplies , payment and several warships . Aqaba would not be fully secured for several months ; Turkish troops operating through the Wadi Itm recaptured the Abu el Lissal blockhouse in early August and threatened Aqaba itself , precipitating a number of skirmishes outside the city , but the arrival of Arab reinforcements and British warships and airplanes dissuaded them from attacking the city outright . The seizure of Aqaba allowed for the transport of Faisal ' s army further north , where it could again begin operations with the logistical support of the British military . It also relieved pressure on British forces in Palestine and effectively isolated the Turkish forces in Medina , and opened a pathway for possible Arab military operations into Syria and Jordan . Art . The campaign and battle were depicted in the film " Lawrence of Arabia " , though the film ' s depiction of a sweeping charge by the Arabs against Aqaba itself is quite false . The defences of Aqaba are exaggerated , with a pair of 12 - inch cannon pointing out to sea to prevent a naval attack . Also , the British fleet is absent .