The \'German Spirit\' in the Ottoman and Turkish Army, 1908-1938. A History of Military Knowledge Transfer - Gerhard Grüßhaber

oftheyears.”²⁹³SinceBaküwasinterestedinhiringaGermancavalryinstructor
fortheTurkisharmyandwantedtosendtwoTurkishcavalryofficerstoHann-
over,thisvisitwouldrequirespecialattention.DuringhismeetingwiththeGer-
manambassador,BakühadinduldgedhimselfinhistimeinKassel:

“[Baküʼs]sincereloveandadmirationforGermanycanonlybeofuseforshapingtheGer-

man-Turkishmilitaryrelations.[..][ThecommanderinHannovershould]arrangeasmall

festivity,inviteoldcomradesoftheGeneralandshowhimsomedrillexercises.Here[in

Turkey],asiswell-known,heistheInspector-Generalofthecavalry,notthefirstthat

comesalong.”²⁹⁴

EventhoughtheGermanhorsebreedingfarmscouldnotsellmanyhorsestoTur-
keyduetotheGermanrearmamentprogram,Bakü’svisitshowedthehighsig-
nificanceoftheGermanrelationswiththeTurkisharmedforces.²⁹⁵Asithasbe-
comeevidentthroughthecourseofthisstudy,alsointhiscase,theservicetime
ofOttomanofficersintheImperialGermanarmywasoneofthecornerstonesof
thisspecialrelationship.
IntheTurkishcavalrytherehadalsobeenaFrenchinstructor.AlbertTauton
taughtintheTurkishcavalryschoolatthebeginningofthe 19 30s.²⁹⁶Towardsthe
endofthisdecade,FrenchandlateralsoGermanideasonmotorizationand
mechanizationfoundtheirwayintoTurkishmilitaryperiodicals.Thefutureof
Turkishcavalrywasdiscussedthefollowingway:

“Shouldwe,insteadofsucha[conventional]cavalry,raiseitseffectivenesstothehighest

degreepossibleandincreasethefirepower,andstrengthenitwithmotorizedunitsand

AmbassadorRosenbergtotheForeignMinistry,19May 1935 .PA-AAR7 8553.
EmbassyAnkaraFabriciustotheForeignMinistry,20May 1935 .PA-AAR7 8553.
GermanyevenhadtopurchaseanimalsfromHungarytosatisfythegrowingneeds.Richard
L.DiNardo,MechanizedJuggernautorMilitaryAnachronism?HorsesandtheGermanArmyof
WorldWarII(NewYork:GreenwoodPress,1991),12.
Taton,“SüvariveBinicilikMektebimizdeTedrisEdilmekteOlanBinicilikDerslerindenAt-
layışaMüteallikBirBahis”[AdebateaboutShowjumpingfromtheHorseRidingLessonsin
ourCavalryandRidingSchool],SM 8 – 81 (1932), 62 – 78 andTaton,“AtTerbiyesi”[HorseTrain-
ing],SM 7 – 91 (19 33 ), 63 – 73 .ItisinterestingtonotethatAlbertTautonpursuedtheworkofFritz
Laufferbefore1 91 4.ThelatterhadwitnessedtheperformanceoftheTurkishcavalryduringthe
1936 OlympicGamesinBerlinandwashighlyimpressed.Hestatedinhismemoirsthatthis
proved“thatthetimebefore1 91 4finallyisovercomeinTurkeyandthatthegreatleaderof
theTurks,KemalPasha,rootedlyhaschangedtheofficer’sconceptionofdutyandeducation.”
Lauffer,“ErinnerungenanmeineKommandeurzeit,” 10.

TheTurkishArtilleryandCavalry 227