ume(AugusttoOctober)in1 913 ,whentheBalkanWarhadcededandthenego-
tiationsonthesendingofanewGermanmilitarymissionwereproceeding.⁹⁰
GermanDailyRoutineServiceinOttomanView
Mustafa’sreportfocusedonthetrainingofthenewlydrawnPrussianrecruits.
ThedeficienciesinthisfieldhadbecomeevidentontheOttomansideafter
the 1908 revolution.TherespectiveremarksinColonelOttovonLossowʼsreports
willserveasthecomparativeangleforthissurvey.Mustafawasastonishedthat
theGermanNCOs(Feldwebelrankedsergeants)hadahighdegreeofresponsibil-
ityduringthebasictraining.Forhimitwassurprisingthattheofficerswerenot
involvedindailyroutinetraining.⁹¹Itwasasimilaradmirationasinthecaseof
CaferAl-Askari,whohadhighlightedthetasksoftheGermancompanysergeant
major(Kompaniefeldwebel/başgedikli;thesocalled“Spieß”):
“Thesergeant-majorwasthekeyfigureintheGermanArmycompany.Hewasresponsible
fortheimplementationofallorders,instructionsanddirectivesissuedbythecompany
commander.Healsoranthecompanyofficewithgreatefficiencyaccordingtothecom-
mandingofficer’srequirements.IntheGermanArmy,theNCOsweretherepositoryofits
corevaluesofdiscipline,efficiencyandagoodturn-out.”⁹²Theinspectionofrecruitsattheendofthethreemonthsbasictrainingandthe
distributionofabrandnewnumberoneuniformkit(ErsteGarnitur)forparades
andspecialoccasionsandanusednumbertwouniformkitfordailyuse(Zweite
Garnitur)wassomethingnewfortheOttomanlieutenant.⁹³Mustafadescribed
theclose-orderdrillofhisSilesiancompanyingreatdetail,mentioningallthe
commands:“The commanderappreciated theplatoons passingbyingood
ordersaying‘Gut’orvaluedthem‘Şleht’.”⁹⁴Interestingly,Mustafadidnotuse
GermanvocabularyinLatinscriptinthetext,translatingmostoftheGerman
termsintoOttoman(phonetic)Turkish.Hetherebyappealedtoabroaderread-
Mustafa,“AlmanOrdu’daMüşahedatım”[WhatIwitnessedintheGermanArmy],Mecmua-yi
Fünun-uAskeriye6,7,8( 132 9/1913).ThissortofadmirationfortheGermanarmyalsocontinued
after 191 4.Cf.inthisregardthelistingofsimilarGermanmilitaryinstitutionsandvirtuesinKar-
abekir,TarihteAlmanlarveAlmanOrdusu,2 21 – 22 7.Karabekirexpressedhishighesteemaftera
militarytourinGermanyduringtheFirstWorldWar.
Karabekir,TarihteAlmanlarveAlmanOrdusu, 31 4.
Al-Askari,ASoldier’sStory,32.
Mustafa,“AlmanOrdu’daMüşahedatım,” 325.
Mustafa,“AlmanOrdu’daMüşahedatım,” 32 8.
48 2ThePeakofKnowledgeTransfer