Source: File: Zimmermann
Telegram as Received by the German Ambassador to Mexico - NARA - 302025.jpg.
See original images at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimmermann_Telegram>
[Accessed 9 March 2017]
Alongside the
greatest neutral country,
United States of
America, a small cousin
Kept an ear to
the door - maybe not to spy
But more a
watchful eye, so that January
1917, The Naval
Intelligence Service
Made something of
a discovery.
At Room 39 of the
admiralty on January
19 1917,
intercepted a telegram - receiver
Was Heinrich von Eckardt
being Germany's
Ambassador in Mexico
- the sender Arthur
Zimmermann,
German Empire's foreign
Secretary; a
blatant coded message.
The Western Union
Telegram had,
Since 1856, used
an amazing technology
Whereby
electrical impulses sent through wire,
Tapped out in Morse
and typed onto a form
To be hand
delivered - Naval Intelligence
Monitoring made surprise
discovery.
Headed by normal
Western Union
Logo, the
received typed form sent via
Galveston for
German Legation, Mexico city.
Ten uneven
columns of grouped numbers;
3,4 or 5 sets,
dated January 19 1917
And signed 'BERNSTORFF.'
The telegram
conveyance travelled by
Galveston Texas,
to possess the stamp
Of German
Ambassador to the United States;
J.H. von
Bernstoff - the note taken on by
Room 40, and the official
secret office
Of cryptographic workers.
In order to hide potential
interception,
Later claims how
the message took three
Routes - whereas
only one had been used;
The message sent in
Berlin to US embassy,
Via diplomatic cable
- first to Copenhagen,
Then London and onto
Washington.
The transatlantic
cable being only
Possible way - as
Britain had severed
German cables in
1914 - Swedish cables
And those of the
US converged at relay
Station of
Porthcurno, finally boosted
To travel across
the ocean.
It was at
Porthcurno that all traffic
Was copied by the
British intelligence.
Germany's usage
of the cable was agreed
By US President for
diplomatic reasons,
To work for a
peaceful solution
In negotiating
war's end.
Room 40 code-breaker
analysts
Set to work - conditions
having been
That Germany using cable, telegrams could
Not be in code; yet
the US Ambassador
In Berlin J.
Gerrard, was persuaded
To transmit the
coded form.
Within hours,
Nigel de Grey in Room 40
Had
deciphered part of the code, whereby
They had acquired
German systems 13040
And 0075 ciphers
- William Hall, room 40
Chief, refused to
release the message
For duration of another
3 weeks.
Decipher's Grey
and Montgomery
Completed the
decryption - the issue
Being any release
would show how British
Had intercepted confidential
American
Cables and expose the fact Britain
Held Germany's secret
codes.
To maintain secrecy, a cover story
Was devised as to
how the Zimmerman
Cable came into
their possession - to convince
The States the
telegram was real and fact
They had discovered
the true content
Of the telegram's
suggestion.
An agent in
Mexico 'Mr. H' would
Bribe a telegraph
agency employee
For a copy -
weighing up the risk of US entry
Into war and Germany
realizing capture
Of German ciphertext codes being
Revealed, was well worth it.
To cover the
cover up America
Agreed to the
official story, how British
Agents gained the
deciphered text in Mexico.
The 13040 code then given to America,
To make their own
verification
Of the coded telegram.
The Zimmerman Telegram
content
Revealed German
intent, conveyed by
The Foreign secretary
to Eckardt, who read
In disbelief - given over by Room 40 chief
To Edward Bell,
Britain’s US secretary,
Yet convinced it
was a forgery.
by Jamie Mann.
Source: File: Wikipedia:
Zimmermann Telegram. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimmermann_Telegram>
[Accessed 9 March 2017]
Source: File: Ask
History: What was the Zimmermann Telegram? Available at: <http://www.history.com/news/ask-history/what-was-the-zimmermann-telegram>
[Accessed 9 March 2017]
Source: File: National Archives: The Zimmermann Telegram. Available at: <https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/zimmermann>
[Accessed 9 March 2017]
Source: File: The
Sun THE MESSAGE THAT CHANGED HISTORY. What is
The Zimmerman Telegram and how did it lead to America joining the allies in
World War One? Available at:
<https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2633708/how-zimmerman-telegram-changed-history/>
[Accessed 9 March 2017]
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1America
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