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

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InthecaseofGeneralMittelberger,thecoincidenceofhisleavingtoTurkey
with theNational Socialists comingtopowerisstriking.Mittelbergerhad
reachedtheageofretirementinJanuary 1933 andhadsignedthecontract
whenHitlerwasappointedChancellor.However,asthecommanderofaninfan-
tryregimentinBayreuth,on9November 1923 hehadassistedinthesurpression
ofthelocalSArebellion.¹⁷⁰Itcan,therefore,reasonablybeconcludedthathe
musthavesensedthedangerofstayinginGermanyinearly1 93 3.AlthoughMit-
telbergerwasaconservativeandevenjoinedthelocalbranchoftheNSDAPafter
hisarrivalinIstanbul,justlikeCarlDiem,hewasnotagenuinefollowerofthe
regime.
ThepossibilityofseekingrefugeinTurkishservicewouldnothavebeenpos-
siblewithouttherapprochementbetweenthetwoarmies.Apartfromalltheneg-
ativeexperiences,whichwereexpressedopenlyafter1918,botharmedforces
hadseveralcommoninterests.


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Afterthewarthecooperationbetweenbothcountrieshadcometoastandstill.
However,theinterestforfurthercooperationonbothsideswaspreponderant.
Nonetheless,theTurkisharmyavoidedtherepetitionofseveralofthesideeffects
thathadaccompaniedthemilitarymissionafter 1913 .Thenegativeoutcomeof
politicalaspects,asevaluatedbyKazımKarabekirandOttovonLossow,urged
theTurkishmilitaryleadershiptoestablishnewrulesfortherecruitmentofGer-
maninstructors.Firstofall,themajorityoftheyoungerGermanofficershadpro-
ventheirincapabilityforserviceintheOttomanenvironment.Itcouldnotbeex-
pectedofaseniorTurkishofficertofollowtheinstructionsofafreshlygraduated
andthusinexperiencedGermanLieutenant.Henceolder,moreexperiencedGer-
manofficershadtobehired.Thosedistinguishedmenwerenottohaveanycon-
tactwiththecommonrankandfiles.Rather,theyweretofocusontheeducation
offutureofficers.TherewereenoughTurkishsergeantsandlowerrankingoffi-
cerswithwarexperienceavailabletoguaranteethedailybasicdrillinstructions.
ThemilitaryrestrictionsenforcedontheReichswehrbytheVersaillesTreatyfa-
voredtheTurkishmilitaryeducationsystem.Therewereplentyofdistinguished
Germanofficersavailable,sincenotallofthemcouldcontinuetheirservicein
thesmallerReichswehr.Asparagraph 17 7ofthetreatyforbadeactivesoldiers
toentertheserviceofaforeignarmy,therevivalofamilitarymissionwasim-


Cf.Mittelberger,“WandererinvierWelten,”vol.2, 109 – 111.


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