viewscontributedtothelatepublicationofthevolumesinthesecondhalfofthe
1920 swhenprivatepublishinghouseshadalreadyreleaseddozensofmemoirs
andpopularaccountsonthemarket.⁷¹
Ina‘StormofPaper’II:AnswerstotheReichsarchiv
Questionnaire
ThewartimemilitaryrepresentativeintheGermanembassy,OttovonLossow,
receivedhisletterfromthe ReichsarchivinFebruary 1921 .⁷² ForLossowit
cameasawelcomed‘tit-for-tat’responseagainstthepersonalaccusationsin
LimanvonSanders’ 1919 memoirs.⁷³Inthesememoirs,theheadoftheGerman
militarymissionhadclaimedthatLossowhadprovidedoverexaggeratedestima-
tionsoftheOttomanstrengthinhisreporttoBerlinandthattheBavarianGen-
eralhadsupportedEnverPasha’sdreamsofconquestintheCaucasus.
However,thereplyfromMunichtookmorethanhalfayearduetoLossow’s
busypositionasheadoftheBavarianReichswehr.TheGeneralfromMunichwas
particularlyangryabouttheallegationsinthequestionnaire.Mostoftheques-
tionsdealtwiththepersonalrelationsbetweenEnverPashaandLimanvon
Sanders,aswellastherelationshipbetweenLossowintheGermanembassy
andLimanintheGermanmilitarymissionintheOttomancapital.Thedeviating
reportsbyLossowandbymembersofthemilitarymissiontoBerlinwererated
asquiteirritating.
Lossow’sanswerwaswritteninanoffendedtone.Hestatedthattheauthor
ofthequestionnaireonlyhadasuperficialknowledgeoftherealeventsinwar-
timeConstantinople.LossowknewthatthevolumewastobeeditedbyLiman
vonSander’sformerpersonalaidedecamp,CarlMühlmann.Lossowthusstated
thathehimselfshouldwritethevolumeontheDardanellescampaign,ifthe
Reichsarchivshouldnotlikehisanswers.Lossowopenlyaddressedhisreply
toMühlmann,theeditorinchief,whomhesawaspro-Limanandmadeclear
that“Idon’twishtohaveanycontact,mayitbedirectorindirect,withGeneral
Liman.”⁷⁴Afterthoseopeningremarks,Lossowdescribedtheconditionsinthe
Ottomanarmyafterthedefeatin 1913 whichhehadwithnessedasafield
commanderintheÇatalcafrontandlaterintheOttomancapital.Bycreating
Pöhlmann,KriegsgeschichteundGeschichtspolitik,1 35.
VonMertztoOttovonLossow,4February 1921 .BayHStAHS 3158 :n.p.
FortheGermanpostwarmemoirsseealsoReichmann,TapfereAsker,1 2 – 14.
LossowtoReichsarchiv, 25 November 1921 .BayHStAHS3158,n.p.Lossownotedonhisdac-
tylopresscopythathehadreceivednoanswertothisletterfromBerlin.
176 4German-TurkishMilitaryCooperationafter 1918