had arrived. In this way, Bediuzzaman and his force threw the Cossacks into sufficient disarray to allow the people to move on to safety, and Gevaş too was saved. [^259]

[^259]:Tarihçe, 98; Şahiner, Said Nursi, 161.

Many of Bediuzzaman's students and volunteers fell at this time. Molla Habib also was killed, at Gevaş, having successfully conveyed news of the enemy's movements to Halil Pasha at the Iranian Front. [^260]

[^260]:Tarihçe, 101; Şahiner, Said Nursi, 161.

On one occasion when the Ottomans were retreating, the Felt Hats lured the Russians and Armenians — filled with false confidence — into an enclosed valley, and opening fire on them, wiped out the entire force. [^261]

[^261]:Ibid., 162.

On another occasion, Bediuzzaman and his volunteers were able to recapture thirty large guns off the Russians by surprising them at night. And using them to delay the Russian advance, they allowed all the woman and children of the area to be evacuated. Necmeddin Şahiner notes that all these exploits appear in the contemporary military records of the militia forces. Bediuzzaman's students, too, were famous for their daring and bravery. One of them called Mir Mahey actually crossed into the Russian units several times, and killing as many as ten to fifteen of the enemy returned to his own lines. [^262]

[^262]:Ibid., 162.

The owner of the newspaper Hür Adam, Sinan Omur, had these memories of Bediuzzaman and the militia, which he related to Necmeddin Şahiner in an interview.

I was a student in the teachers' training college in Istanbul when the First World War broke out. I was eighteen years old at the time, so they took me into the Army. I first saw Bediuzzaman in August 1331 (1915) on Mount Sübhan. He was on a white horse. Galloping up and down, he was raising the soldiers' morale. He was commander of the militia forces at that time. He had a turban on his head, and epaulets on his shoulders. He was continually moving in among the volunteers on horseback to give them courage. Enver Pasha had appointed Bediuzzaman to the militia forces. They had long been friends. So Bediuzzaman formed a 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