100 Years Ago _ Zimmermann Telegram

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/register/an-intercepted-letter-h7l0zlxn6

March 2, 1917

An intercepted letter

The Washington correspondent of the Associated Press, who reveals Germany’s proposal to Mexico for an alliance with Mexico and Japan against the United States, says that a copy of Herr Zimmermann’s instructions to von Eckardt was sent through Count Bernstorff and is in the possession of the United States Government. The instructions were as follows: “Berlin, Jan 19, 1917. On Feb 1 we intend to begin submarine warfare without restriction. In spite of this it is our intention to endeavour to keep the United States neutral. If this attempt is not successful, we propose an alliance on the following basis with Mexico: That we shall make war together and together make peace; we shall give general financial support, and it is understood that Mexico is to reconquer her lost territory of New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. The details are left to you for settlement. You are instructed to inform the President of Mexico of the above in the greatest confidence as soon as it is certain that there will be an outbreak of war with the United States, and suggest that the President of Mexico shall on his own initiative communicate with Japan suggesting the latter’s adherence to this plan, and at the same time offer to mediate between Germany and Japan. Please call to the attention of the President of Mexico that the employment of ruthless submarine warfare now promises to compel England to make peace in a few months. Zimmermann.”


This document has been in the hands of the Government since President Wilson severed relations with Germany. It has been kept secret while the President has been asking Congress for full authority to deal with Germany and while Congress has been hesitating. It was in the President’s hands while Herr von Bethmann Hollweg was declaring that the United States had placed an interpretation on the submarine declaration “never intended by Germany”, and that Germany had promoted and honoured friendly relations with the United States “as a heritage from Frederick the Great”.


Today the Council of National Defence, created by Act of Congress, has issued an appeal to all Americans to show consideration to aliens in this country “if untoward events should come upon us.”



http://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2017-03-01/register/the-broadstairs-raid-52vjt7l9m

March 1, 1917

The Broadstairs raid

The circumstances in which Mrs Daisy Agnes Morgan and her baby daughter, Phyllis Frances, were killed by shells from a German destroyer off Broadstairs on Sunday night were told yesterday at the inquest by the husband and father, Frederick Horace Morgan, a general labourer. “At about a quarter-past 11 on Sunday night,” he said, “I was downstairs when I heard the bombardment. I stood and listened while the first five or six shells burst near me. Then I went to the back window, pulled up the blind, and saw the sky lit up by star shells. I got to the door, and was about to unlock it, when two shells seemed to burst close to me. Just as I got to the stairs the whole staircase fell down and brick rubbish came tumbling into the room. I heard the children crying and I went to the stairs, calling to my wife, who did not answer.”


Morgan sent three of his children to their grandmother. “The girl Doris,” he continued, “who has since died at Margate, got out of bed herself but could not reach the stairs. I called to her to come but she cried and said: ‘I can’t, Daddy, I’m hurt.’ I went up and brought her down, handing her to one of my sons, who carried her to Granny. Then at the top of the stairs I found my wife dead. I raised her up a bit and found she had the baby in her arms. The baby groaned a little and I took her up the street and handed her to the postmaster, who took charge of her. Then I went back to my wife again. A young man came to help me and the police arrived.” The witness said the shell knocked a hole in the wall about 4ft in diameter. His wife met the full force of the shell. She had gone to fetch the baby.
The Coroner expressed his sympathy with the witness, who said that his eldest son was at the front. Inspector Ford said he found the body of the woman covered with bricks and mortar and very severely wounded. The bedroom was wrecked, and all over the room was a great quantity of splinters of shell. In the district, including Margate, at least 40 shells fell. Another witness, who took care of the baby, said the child died about an hour after being struck. The jury returned a verdict of “Death from shell wounds.” One juryman opposed the verdict, and said a verdict of “Murder” ought to be returned. An appeal has been issued for assistance for the children.


http://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2017-02-28/register/survivors-of-the-laconia-rbm6knqzb

FEBRUARY 28, 1917

Survivors of the Laconia

The first passenger off the patrol boat which brought the rescued from the Laconia to safety was Miss M Chapman. She walked off the gangway with a lifebelt on, accompanied by her sister Dorothy, and a Scottish friend, Miss Monroe. All three were quite recovered from the shock experienced some 27 hours before. Most of those who could be seen from the quayside wore lifebelts. As the first lady stepped ashore “Rule Britannia” was sung by a number of the rescued and hearty cheers given for the patrol boat’s crew.


A ship’s steward said he was engaged in the pantry when the first torpedo struck the ship. He went to his station and got into his appointed boat. It was a little after 9 o’clock and the night was very dark. The sea was calm and most of the boats got away safely. One boat, he heard, had fouled in the falls and some were injured. All the boats were clear of the ship when the second torpedo struck her. She went down stern first in about one hour. The captain was the last to leave the ship.


The submarine officer asked for the ship’s tonnage and where she had left. He gave them a course, and said they would soon fall in with a patrol boat. He then bade them “Good-night,” and disappeared in the darkness. In the morning a patrol boat picked them up. One lady, said to be a French actress, got hysterical and fought those who tried to get a lifebelt on her. Her manager is reported to have died of shock on board the Laconia.


The ship’s doctor acted a very brave part. He is an Irishman from Tipperary, who has been at the front and wounded. He would not get into a boat until he had helped everyone he could. When interviewed, he said the experience on board the Laconia was not as bad as the trenches.


There were six American passengers, two of whom are dead. Fourteen American negroes are among the crew saved. It is thought that 12 are lost. Two hundred and sixty-seven were brought to this port. The total on board is given as 217 crew and 75 passengers. Captain Irvine got a rousing cheer as the last passengers left the rescuing ship. Six cases went to hospital, but none is thought to be seriously injured. Quite a number of the crew were in their shirts and pants only, and had neither boots nor hats.


http://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2017-02-27/register/one-thousand-millions-hw5bdkx7v

FEBRUARY 27, 1917

One thousand millions

The Government had good news for the House of Commons today. Mr Bonar Law roused the House to a high pitch of enthusiasm by two announcements of the first importance. The first was that the Mesopotamian operations had so far succeeded that Kut was again in our hands. The second and even more arresting item was that the War Loan had yielded in new money £1,000,000,000, an aggregate actually £300,000,000 in excess of the provisional estimate which Mr Bonar Law had made a week before. The House seemed quite unprepared for so stupendous a result. A murmur of astonishment went round the green benches when Mr Bonar Law very quietly and without any trace of elation stated that the Loan had passed the ten-figure mark. There was a momentary silence while members sought to grasp the magnitude of the national achievement, and then they broke into a roar of delighted cheering, the like of which has not been heard at Westminster for many a long day. There was a second display of enthusiasm when the Chancellor of the Exchequer declared that not less than 8,000,000 people had applied for one or other of the several categories of the Loan.


The statement contained many other interesting particulars. Only about £22,000,000 had been put into the tax-free Loan. Mr Bonar Law helped his hearers to realize the meaning of a Loan of £1,000,000,000 by making comparisons with our previous Loans and those of our enemies. The amount actually exceeded the amounts of our two previous Loans put together. The last German Loan reached £532,000,000 and the largest £608,000,000, or nearly £400,000,000 short of the British Loan. The success of the Loan, as Mr Bonar Law pointed out, was in reality due to one cause only, the patriotism of the people. The spirit which accounted for its success was that of the writer of an anonymous letter who, having no money, sent a bracelet to be turned into a bullet. The whole House enthusiastically assented to Mr Bonar Law’s final declaration that the result of the Loan was an expression of the will of the people to win the war and afforded evidence of the financial ability of this country to see it to a successful conclusion.


http://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2017-02-25/register/german-retreat-on-the-ancre-qq8zmxxn5

february 25, 1917

German retreat on the Ancre

The withdrawal of the enemy from a wide sweep of ground between Gommecourt and Bapaume is important news which shows the heavy strain we have put upon his defensive system by our unceasing gunfire and the steady pressure of infantry attacks. We had hardly hoped that places like Serre, Miraumont and Pys would fall into our hands without further efforts by our troops and the inevitable cost of victory even at its cheapest rate. The enemy is retiring to a new defensive line upon the Bapaume Ridge, blowing up ammunition dumps behind him, firing his dugouts, and leaving a few snipers and machine-gunners to keep up a pretence of force until the moment of discovery.


It appears that a shortening of the enemy line in the Ancre valley was decided upon some time ago. There has been an unusual degree of artillery activity, but all coming from a limited number of positions. It is beyond question that during the hard frost the Germans were stealthily withdrawing their guns. The extreme depth to which the German retreat has been carried is reported as about three miles. Serre, Miraumont, Petit Miraumont, and Pys were all occupied by our troops with no very obstinate resistance. The Germans made use of obstructive tactics without fighting any rearguard actions. They posted machine-gun teams and snipers in various vantage points along the line of our pursuit, but at one point only, the hill commanding Boom Ravine, was there a definite resistance.


Throughout yesterday, in weather for the most part hazy, the advance of the British troops was continued. The Germans have chosen their time well for this pre-arranged shortening of their line, when the oozing condition of the churned-up ground renders the movements of our troops more than ordinarily difficult. On the other hand we gained, with almost negligible loss, a large tract of country, and we shall have clean ground unploughed by shell fire to resume the battle upon. A number of explosions and fires have been observed in Bapaume, and rumour has it that the Germans are evacuating the town. But rumour is a dangerous, if not a lying, jade, and it will be well to await definite tidings before believing that the enemy has really retired from a point of such strategic significance.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2017-02-24/register/the-first-ship-to-new-york-8rkmtmk97

FEBRUARY 24, 1917

The first ship to New York

Sailing from Liverpool in bold defiance of the German “blockade” orders, the good ship Philadelphia has crossed the Atlantic. The Philadelphia is the first ship of the American Line to run the gauntlet of the German submarines since the new measures were put in force, and, although she went through the so-called danger zone practically without altering her regular course, not a sign was seen from those who told her she could not sail. Sorry indeed must be those Americans who decided to heed the German threats and postpone their voyage. More than 200 first-class passengers were booked to sail, but only 61, including 11 women and three children, put in an appearance at Euston Station.


The spirit animating this group must be admired when it is borne in mind that the date fixed by the Germans for the beginning of the campaign was the day before the ship sailed, and that more than a hundred passengers suddenly discovered important reasons for remaining in England. One of the passengers who sailed had taken the precaution of getting married in London before undertaking the journey, but not even the presence of reporters aboard the boat-train collecting information with the obvious view of preparing obituary notices, could alter the determination of those who had signed the American Line document containing the words: “I fully realize the position and the risk I am running, and am prepared to free the company from all responsibility arising in any way from war perils”.


There was just one minute of excitement. As the Philadelphia passed a destroyer in the distance, between the two vessels there suddenly appeared a dark object, looking for all the world like a submarine. Those who saw it expected shots from the warship every second, but soon a geyser-like spout arose. The supposed submarine was a whale.


The Philadelphia’s trip — which, although uneventful, was historic, inasmuch is she is the first ship to uphold the dignity of the American flag since the beginning of the “blockade” — ended as she steamed up New York Bay today, welcomed by the shrill blasts of whistles and sirens of craft of every description in the harbour and both rivers.