ishtobreakintotheirpreserveatYildiz,andwereonlytobemoredisgruntledlater,when
theywereallrecalledtoGermanyandreplacedbyTurkishofficers.”²⁴⁶LeemanagedtopersuadetheheadoftheTurkishGeneralStaffthattheBritish
conceptofairwarfarewassuperiortothatoftheGermans.However,theRAF
officeralsoquicklyrealizedthattherewasastrongpro-Germanfractionwithin
theTurkisharmedforces.Theythushadto“breakintothepro-Germananti-Brit-
ishfronttowhichaninfluentialsectionofthesenior[Turkish]militaryhierarchy
thenadhered.”²⁴⁷
MittelbergerreturnedtoGermanyinlateSeptember 1939 afterhehadtermi-
natedhiscontractwiththeTurkishstatedueto“theoutbreakofwar”.²⁴⁸Mittel-
bergerhadmadethisdecision,eventhoughHitlerandtheGermanheadofstaff,
GeneralWaltervonBrauchitsch,haddemandedtokeephisposition.TheTurkish
academycommanderalsohadnoobjectionsagainstMittelberger’scontinued
employment.²⁴⁹
Sofar,wecanstatethattheGermanofficersduringtheMittelbergererawere
eagerforTurkishapprovalofthesuperiorityoftheirmilitaryknowledge.Howev-
er,bythelate 19 30s,theirviewswerenolongerundisputed.Incontrasttothe
Ottomantimes,TurkishofficersevenchallengedtheGermandoctrineinthepres-
enceofitsrepresentativesinfrontofthewholeclass.²⁵⁰
MittelbergerwaspraisedbyhisstudentsbuttheTurkishmilitaryreadership
wasawarethathisexplanationsofGermaninstructions“werenotobjective,
sinceitsauthorwasanexpertintheGermanmilitarydoctrine’sspirit[Alman
askerîdoktriniruhu].”²⁵¹
InrepublicanTurkeythe‘GermanSpirit’wasnotregardedasunprejudiced
asithadbeenthecasein 191 4.Thiswasalsoduetothedevelopmentsofthede-
bateintheTurkishmilitarypress.TheGermanswerenotabletofollowthose
contemporarydebateswithoutthehelpoftheirpersonaltranslators.Conse-
quently, thisperspective ismissingfrom Mittelberger’smemoirs. Hencewe
havetotakeacloserlookatmilitaryperiodicalsinthe 19 30s.Thisanalysis
willberestrictedtothethreemost‘favorite’careerpathsamongyoungTurkish
officers:
Lee,SpecialDuties,8.
Lee,SpecialDuties,9.
Mittelberger,“WandererinvierWelten,”vol.3,101.
Mittelberger,“WandererinvierWelten,”vol.3, 10 2, 104.
Kocatürk,BirSubayınAnıları,168.
SabriSarptır,introductiontoArmandMermet,AlmanSevkveİdaresi:SiegfriedTaktik[Ger-
manTactics:TheSiegfriedTactic],trans.SabriSarptır(Istanbul:AskerMatbaa), 194 3,1.
TheMittelbergerEra,1 933 – 1939 217