Armenians had crowded into the area. Early the same month, the Ottomans were successful in pushing back the Russo-Armenian Army, together with which were some 200,000 refugees. Of these, some 40,000 perished, not because they were deliberately massacred, but from conditions of war. [^249]

[^249]:Shaw and Shaw, History, ii, 315-317.

#### The Front

The Front

On the declaration of war Bediuzzaman had enlisted in the army together with his student Molla Habib as a voluntary regimental mufti or religious functionary. They were posted to the Van Division and sent to the front at Erzurum. [^250] 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:

[^250]:According to a curriculum vitae while a member of the Darü'l-Hikmeti'l-İslamiye in October 1921, Bediuzzaman "first joined the Imperial Army as a regimental mufti," and secondly as a regimental commander. See, S. Albayrak, unpaged Appendix to Son Devrin İslam Akademisi, Istanbul 1973.

On the Pasinler Front during the Great War, the late Molla Habib and I were moving forward with the intention of attacking the enemy. Their artillery fired three shells at us at one or two minute intervals. The three shells passed right over our heads two metres high, and although our soldiers were concealed in the ravine behind us and could not be seen, they retreated. By way of a test I said: "What do you say, Molla Habib, I'm not going to hide myself from the shells of these infidels?" And he replied: "I'm not going to fall back either, I'll stay behind you." A further shell fell very close to us. Certain that Divine succour would preserve us, I said to Molla Habib: "Forward! These infidels' shells can't kill us. We won't deign to draw back!" [^251]

[^251]:Nursi, Emirdağ Lahikası, ii, 13; Şahiner, Said Nursi, 160-1.

Of several accounts Necmeddin Şahiner has collected from soldiers present at Pasinler, all describe Bediuzzaman's moving about the trenches on horseback in this way, in complete disdain of the Russian shells. The following account mentions particularly the severity of the shelling:

It was snowing and everywhere was white. We were defending our beloved country against the Russians. We could not raise our heads above the trenches because of the bullets which were falling like rain. We were fighting under shells that fell like rain. It was just as though shrapnel was