Ontheotherhand,inhismemoirsMittelbergeralsowroteatlenghtaboutthe
comparisonsbetweenEnverPasha’sSarıkamışandHitler’sBarbarossadebacles.
However,heremainedsilentaboutsimilarcomparisonsbetweenthefateofthe
OttomanArmeniansandtheEuropeanJews.Inhismemoirs,theonlyincident
comparablewiththedeportationoftheArmenianswastheexpulsionoftheGer-
mansfromEasternEuropeattheendoftheSecondWorldWar.²³⁹Thismight
havealsobeenrelatedtothesurpressionandrefusaltoacceptGermancrimes.
AnotherGermanofficerinTurkishserviceevenreturnedtoGermanyandtriedto
profitfromtheNationalSocialistregimeduringtheearlyrearmamentperiod.
HeinrichRittervonFüchtbauer(18 79 – 194 7)resignedfromhispositionin 1934
andjoinedacivilengineeringofficeinMunich.Here,heassistedinthedevelop-
mentofalargeproject,the‘MidgardSnake’,whichwassoontobeofferedtothe
Germanarmy.²⁴⁰AftertherejectionofthismonstrousmachinebytheReich-
swehrandHitler’sChancellory(Hitler’saideevenrefusedtohavealookat
theplans),fullofremorse,FüchtbauerreturnedtoTurkishservicethefollowing
year.
InIstanbultheworkcontinuedasbefore.Mittelbergerreceivedthenewest
fieldserviceregulationsandonceevenorderedsomemilitarycannedfoodfor
demonstrationpurposes.²⁴¹In 1935 ,Mittelbergerandhis navalcounterpart,
PaulWülfingvonDitten,wereorderedtoestablishatypeofGermanmilitary
missioninTurkey,comprisedofallGermaninstructorsinIstanbul.Thiswas
notintendedasarevivaloftheLimanvonSandersmission.Rather,thismeasure
wastoeasecoordinationofGermaninterestsinTurkey.Nonetheless,Mittelberg-
erandWülfingwereorderedtokeeptheTurksuninformedotherwisetheGer-
Mittelberger,“WandererinvierWelten,”vol.3, 27 ,64.
Itseemsthat,alsoamongMittelberger’sstaff,therewerepeoplewhohadproblemswith
“therightrightbalanceoftimeandspace”.Füchtbauer’sprojectwasbornoutoftheideatopre-
ventalongstalematelikeontheWesternfrontduringWorldWarI.The‘MidgardSnake’wasa
morethan 500 meterslongarmoredtunnelexcavatormachine.Itsdesignconsistedof 77 linked
upsinglevehiclesontrackswithabuilt-inropebeltconveyorandwasevenconstruedtodive
underthesea.ItsmainpurposewasanundergroundfrontalattackontheMaginotlinein
FranceandBelgium.The‘MidgardSnake’wastodrillatunneltowardstheenemypositions
andlayexplosivechargesinordertoblowupthebunkersfromtheirweakestpoint.Theproject
wasdismissedbytheReichswehrsinceFüchtbauercouldnotprovehisideawithaccuratephys-
icalcalculations.MichaelEllenbogen,“Die‘Midgard-Schlangeʼ:VerstiegenheiteneinesIngen-
ieurs,”inGigantischeVisionen:ArchitekturundHochtechnologieimNationalsozialismus(Graz:
Ares, 20 06), 117 – 122;theletterofrejectiontoFüchtbaueribid. 12 0.
ReichswehrMinistertotheForeignMinistry,24February 1935 .AA-PAR7 8562.
TheMittelbergerEra,1 933 – 1939 215