ship,oneneedstoassumeaconsiderableamountofself-censorship.Soitisno
surprisethatGermanveteranswhowerefamiliarwiththeincidentsandtheir
participantsstruggledwithOttomanautobiographicalpostwarstatements,as
demonstratedinthecaseoftheformernavalminister,CemalPaşa:‘‘Factand
fancyareinterwovensodensely[inhismemoirs],thatitishardtodifferentiate
theonefromtheother,evenforexperiencedexpertsonthispersonality.”⁵⁸Turk-
ishreactionstoseveralGermanmemoirs,asinthecaseofOttoLimanvonSand-
ers,werenotmuchdifferent.
Thereareseverallimitationsregardingthearchivalofficialsourcesusedin
thisstudy.MostofthepapersoftheGermanmilitarymissioninConstantinople
weretakenbacktoBerlinin1918.⁵⁹OnlythefilesoftheGermanmilitaryattaché
hadbeenimmuredintheGermanconsulateduetotheirsensitivecharacter;
thesewereeventuallyreturnedtoGermanyinJune 1924 .⁶⁰However,mostof
thesemilitarydocumentscoveringthe 1908 – 1918 Prussiancontingentsofthe
ImperialarmyandthepostwaractivitiesofGermanmilitaryinstructorsfellvic-
timtoa1 94 5bombraidontheGermanmilitaryarchivesinPotsdam.⁶¹Asare-
sult,detailedinformationabouttheGermansideisonlyavailablefromdocu-
mentsfoundintheGermanMilitaryArchivesinFreiburgandtheArchivesof
theGermanForeignMinistryinBerlin,fromdocumentsrelatingtomembersof
othercontingentsoftheimperialarmyuntil 1918 (forthisstudymainlyBavaria
andWürttemberg),forthe 6 thOttomanarmy(1916–1918)fromthedigitizedGer-
manfileshousedattheRussianFederalmilitaryarchives(TSAMO)⁶²andtherare
remainingexchangesofmilitarycorrespondenceintheTurkishGeneralStaff’s
Archive(ATASE)inAnkara.⁶³
FortheOttomanandTurkishperspectivediscussedinthisstudy,theaccess
toarchivalresourceshasimproved,whoserestrictionsinthepasthavelimited
LettertoOttovonLossow,29May 1922 .BayHStAIVHS3158,n.p.
SeetheReichsarchiv’soverviewofthefilesonTurkey,TSAMO 500 – 12519 – 43 5, 1 – 5.
PresidentoftheGermanReichsarchivtotheMinisteroftheInterior,28January 1924 ;German
ambassadorNadolnytotheGermanForeignMinistry,15June 1924 ,AA-PAR7 85 48.
InformationoftheGermanFederalArchive’sMilitaryArchivesection(BA-MA)totheauthor,
28 July 2014.
Availableathttp://tsamo.germandocsinrussia.org{Lastaccessed 24 November,2 01 7}
SeealsotheoverviewbyHayrullahGökandMesutUyar,“BirinciDünyaSavaşındakiAlman
AskerîYardımHeyetininBilinmeyenBirYönü:BirArşivYağmasınınHikayesi”[UnknownAs-
pectsoftheGermanMilitaryAssistanceMissionduringtheFirstWorldWar:TheStoryofthe
BurningofanArchive],ToplumsalTarih 14 – 83 (2000), 4 – 11.
14 1Introduction