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

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bigreformwork.ThestimulatingworkofGermansoldiersfromMoltketoGoltz
andLimanvonSandersprobablyhadashareintoday’supswingofTurkey.”³⁸
SeveralGermanauthorsallegedaGermanimpactonpresidentMustafa
Kemal.InJuly 1933 OttoWelschclaimedthatMustafaKemal’stacticsintheGrae-
co-TurkishwarwereborrowedfromGeneralLudendorff’s‘elasticdefense’.³⁹
EventhoughWelsch’sarticlewasnotpublishedintheTurkishmilitarypress,
suchastatementwascontrarytotheTurkishself-image.ForTurkishexperts,
theirtacticsinthewaragainsttheGreeksweretheresultofalearningprocess
aftertheirownmistakesbetween 191 4and 1918 andnottakenfromGermansour-
ces.⁴⁰Morethanthat,quitecontrarytoWelsch’sview,therewasevenaretro-
spectiveTurkishclaimthattheWehrmachthadadoptedMustafaKemal’s‘de-
fense-in-depth’strategyduringtheSecondWorldWar.⁴¹
Mutualfingerpointingwasalsovisibleintermsofevaluationsofthesupply
systeminwartime.ForaGermanauthor,thepoorOttomanrailwaynetworkand
makingthecapitalthemainhubfortheimperialarmycountedasseveredeficits
intheOttomanconductofwar.⁴²ATurkishcaptaincontrariwisementionedthe
lowammunitionsuppliesintheFrenchandGermanarmyintheautumnof 1914
asoneofthemainreasonswhythewarwasnotdecidedinitsearlystage.⁴³Re-
gardingthisearlystageoftheFirstWorldWar,therewerealsocriticalopinions
inthememoirsofformerOttomanofficers.However,thisliterarygenrewassub-


Anonymous,“Vor1 00 Jahren:MoltkeinderTürkei,”MWB 119 – 47 (1935),col.1 891.
OttoWelsch,“Gedankenzur‘TürkischenMarneschlachtʼundzur‘SchlachtdesGeneralissi-
musʼ,”DeutscherOffizier-Bund 21 (19 33 ),col. 589 .Seealsoasimilarsentenceinanearliermon-
ograph:“AsasoldierMustaphaKemalisascholarofMarshalLimanvonSanders.”ErichPrigge,
“DieKampfhandlungenderTürkei,”inDergroßeKrieg: 1914 – 1918 in 10 Bänden.Vol4:DerSeek-
rieg.DerKriegumdieKolonien.DieKampfhandlungeninderTürkei.DerGaskrieg.DerLuftkrieg,
ed.MaxSchwarte(Leipzig:Barth, 19 22),4 84.
Kenan,“İstiklalSavaşımızdaBüyükSevkveİdareBakımındanMüdafaaSistemimiz”[A
LeadershipPointofViewonourDefenseSystemDuringourWarofIndependence],AM
53 – 96 (1935), 124 – 14 7.FortheextendedcomparisonseeFahriEngin,“BaşkomutanlıkMeydan
MuharebesininKan,Ulm,Yena,MarnveTanenbergMeydanMuharebelerileMukayesesi”[Com-
parisonoftheSupremeCommander’sBattlewiththeBattlesofCannae,Ulm,Jena,Marneand
Tannenberg],AM 55 – 106 (1937), 528 – 53 7.
KenanKocatürk,BirSubayınAnıları,1 909 – 1999 TheMemoirsofanOfficer,1 909 – 1999, 17 1.
Kretschmann,“DietürkischenEisenbahnenimWeltkrieg,”DOB 13 (19 28 ), 525 – 530 ;Kretsch-
mann,“DerEinflußderrückwärtigenVerbindungenaufdieKriegführung:DietürkischenOper-
ationenimWeltkriege,”MWB 116 – 1( 19 31),cols.5–9.
M.Şevki,“OrduMalzemesininYerleştirilmesi”[TheDistributionofMilitaryGoods],AM
50 – 88 (1931), 900.


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