head, and epaulets on his shoulders. He was continually moving in among .the volunteers on horseback to give them courage. Enver Pasa had appointed Bediuzzaman to , the militia forces. They had long been friends. So Bediuzzaman formed the militia in the East; it consisted of around four to five thousand men.

"The militia forces did not obtain their weapons and provisions from us, but provided everything for themselves. 'They always 'went in front of the Army, and always fought in the front lines. They were known as the Felt Hats. The Russians did not know where to flee when they heard: `The Felt Hats are coming!'; they did not know what had hit them. At that time our swords were only for prodding, but they used to use them on horseback and would hit whatever they struck at. They used to wear white capes so as to blend in with the snow-covered ground and not be detected by the enemy. They would throw the horse's reins over one arm, or attach them to the horse's neck and leave the animal completely free, then galloping at speed, would fire their rifles uninterruptedly. They were extremely accurate shots. While the commanders addressed the volunteers in order to encourage them to fight, in their excitement, the volunteers could not remain in their places squatting on the ground; as soon as the order to move was given: "Tention! 'Tention!', they would spring up, and flying onto their horses, would gallop off against the enemy.”

• The Front

When the Russians began their second invasion in January 1916, Bediuzzaman and his militia moved to the front at Pasinler near Erzurum. A second Russian force moved south down the eastern side of Lake Van. There at the front the fighting was fierce and cold intense. The Ottomans were greatly outnumbered. To boost the volunteers' morale in those arduous conditions, Bediuzzaman rarely entered the trenches, but moved around the front lines on his horse, always to the fore of the fighting. He later wrote:

"In the Pasinler Front during the Great War, the late Molla Habib and I were moving forward with the intention of attacking the