militaryʼs1 944 officialhistoryoftheGeneralStaff,sincetheregulationhad
broughtan advantageous“Germanscent”(“Almanlıkkokusu”)toOttoman
dailyservice.Especiallytheparagraphabout theofficehours waswritten
quiteinthesenseofColmarvonderGoltzʼcriticism:“Theaimisnottosit
[idly,G.G.]forhoursintheoffices[...]buttocomplywiththeduties”ofastaff
officer.¹⁹⁵
Reformeffortswerealsoundertakeninotherbranchesofthearmy.Württem-
bergColonelFritzvonLauffer(186 3 – 194 1)ledtheOttomanofficercavalryschool
inHaydarpaşafromMarch 191 4untilthebeginningofthewar.AmongLauffer’s
maintasksweretheintroductionofhigherstandardsinhorsecareandbringing
ridinglessonstoGermanstandards.Afterinitialdifficulties,togetherwiththe
BavarianMajorOttoWelsch,Lauffermanagedtoraisetheequestrianlevelof
hishorsemen.LikeOttovonFeldmann,Laufferfoundawaytocommunicate
withhisOttomanstaffandtoimpressOttomanofficersandprivatesalike,espe-
ciallybypunishinghorsesformisbehavior:
“Webatteredhim[thehorse]untilwewerebreathlessandwerereplacedbysomestudent
horsemenwhohadapproachedusinthemeantime.[...][E]speciallytheextensivebeating
ofthelittletyranthadimpressedmyfellow[Ottoman]horsemenmorethananyofthecor-
rections[appliedtotheotherhorses][...].”¹⁹⁶Inthiscase,violenceagainsthorsesservedasacommonlanguage.Laufferstat-
edafterthewarthathehadlearnedmanythingsduringhistimeinHaydarpaşa
andhadusedthoseexperiencesinhispost-waractivitiesasaridinginstructor.¹⁹⁷
Otherreformsproducedrathermixesresults.InlateDecember 1913 ,Major
UlrichBack(1864– 194 7)wasappointedcommanderoftheOttomanmilitary
MuharremMazlumİskora,TürkOrdusuKurmaylık(Erkânıharbiye)Tarihçesi[Historyofthe
TurkishGeneralStaff],Ankara:HarpAkademisiMatbaası,1 944 ,37, 40.
FritzLauffer,“ErinnerungenanmeineKommandeurzeitbeidertürkischenKavallerieschule
inHaidarPaschaimJahre 191 4,”NachrichtenblattOffizier-VereinDragoner-Regiment‘König’ 15
(1936), 11 – 18, 16 .Cf.HStASM660/0 24 Nr 13.
“ImadebeneficialuseoftheexperiencesfromTurkeyinthetrainingofruralridingclubs
andlaterintheSAcavalry.”Lauffer,“ErinnerungenanmeineKommandeurzeit,”18.Seealsohis
handbookfortheNSDAPhorseridingassociationspublishedunderthetitleDieAusbildungdes
ReitersindenSA-undSS-ReiterscharensowieaufdenReit-undFahrschulen(Stuttgart:selfpub-
lished, 19 34).HewaspromotedtotherankofSAStandartenführer(colonel)andin 1933 “was
abletoprovidefortheFührer 6000 trainedyounghorseriderswiththeirhorses[whichjoined
the]SAcavalry.”ArchivalindexbookintroductiontoLauffer’sfile, 12 October 1940 :II.HStAS
M660/0 24 .SeealsothebiographicaloverviewinWilhelmBraunandA.R.Marsani,“Obers-
tleutnanta.D.Lauffer,”inBerühmteReitererzählen:EinBuchvomdeutschenReitertummit 78
Bildern,vol.1,ed.WilhelmBraunetal.(Berlin:WilhelmLimpert,1 94 1), 78 – 97.
FromÇatalcatoÇanakkale:AlltheOtto’smen,July 1913 – August 1914 71