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A message not sent (Prologue)
A message cannot be intercepted if it is never sent - Erwin Rommel

Germany late January 1917

The German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmerman had muddled back and forth over sending a proposal for an alliance with Mexico for some time. With the OHL and the Kaiser's approval to resume unrestricted submarine warfare, it seemed like they would need all the friends they could get in that part of the world since the USA was likely to get involved; well more involved since they where already waging economic war against the central powers.

Only a final last minute staff review of the American intervention in Mexico for the purposes of capturing Pancho Villa discouraged the powers that be from proposing the alliance. The writing was on the wall, the US already had a full 10,000 man plus army in the country and the Mexican Army wasn't opposing them. A couple of old warhorses in the OHL had also dug out studies on the Mexican-American war; and lobbied hard against the enterprise; there just wasn't anything to be gained there or so the Kaiser and the OHL was convinced.

Where that proposed alliance against the US was lost to history, unrestricted submarine warfare was not. Germany made formal broadcasts and publications again announcing a war zone around the Entente waters; and advising that anyone who traveled there did so at their own risk.

U-85 torpedoed a British ship; the SS California off the coast of Ireland with over 200 killed, including 45 Americans. She had departed New York Harbor a few days before, and like the Lusitania before her she her hull was full of war materials. This information, even more so than Lusitania was heavily suppressed by the Wilson administration.

This sinking along with the declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare made President Woodrow Wilson and a decent part of the American populace boil over with rage. Wilson, first asked for authorization to arm merchant ships; and then following another sinking in which 26 Americans lost their lives; he asked congress for a declaration of war.

The right of free transit to a war zone was something a lot of Republicans and Midwestern Democrats didn't exactly see as a causus belli; and despite a rousing round of campaigning by Wilson himself and his old nemesis Teddy Roosevelt; the declaration only passed by an uncomfortably thin margin 239-184 in the house and worst of all 48-40 in the senate. Even if the margins where thin, and the reasons for war not quite substantiated enough for your average man on the street America was at war.

The local armories where still flooded with volunteers, as the USA began to set up a process to create a modern full sized field army. There was certainly a lot of work to do as the US army currently was even smaller than the army of Romania and the War Department started drafting plans to create an army of a million men (later amended to over two million)

William Randolf Hearst was one of the most influential men in America. He owned dozens of major newspaper's throughout the country, and was sitting in his lavish Manhattan office when an older gentleman, well dressed but with the hands of a working man came in. Hearst put down the paper he was reading; his own most influential of course, the New York Herald which bore the headline "WAR WITH GERMANY" and offered his hand to the gentleman

Hearst: Good day sir, what brings you to my office, our New York local reporter says you have quite a scoop and that you'll only share it with me. I love secrecy and darkness, it sells papers
Gentleman: Well what I have is information sir, and its truthful information at that; truthful information that President Wilson and his cronies have done everything possible to keep from us all
Hearst: A hot scandal, you have my full attention... you look familiar, although I can't place your name to the face sir
Gentleman: I have had my picture in your papers before Mr. Hearst
Hearst: (thinking deeply for a minute)..... Ah I've got it, your the harbor master of the port of New York. I remember you from the Lusitania hearings, damn shame how those Washington boys tried to ruin your reputation
Harbormaster: A fine memory for a man whose papers stretch across the country
Hearst: Knowing important people is the life blood of business, so what's the scoop
Harbormaster: You know the SS California sinking details
Hearst: Yea the huns shot it up, killed dozens of ours, a damn crime
Harbormaster: What if I told you she had crates of rifle cartridges and artillery shells in her hull?
Hearst: Well that would be a hell of a racket since we just declared war over that ship... those boys in Washington are trying to squash that info like they did on Lusitania huh?
Harbormaster: Well yes, but there's more. I got a cousin who is a bigwig at JP Morgan who says that the banks and manufacturers are so in bed with the British that we couldn't afford
Hearst: Well I 'heard rumblings of that too. Awful difficult to prove though, big business has their secrets
Harbormaster: Well how about if I supply the New York Herald with the shipping manifests of all the war materials that have gone to France and Britain since 1914 to prove it
Hearst: Jeezus what a story... you have these documents in your possession?
Harbormaster: (Opens his briefcase and places several stacks of papers on Hearst's desk)
Hearst: (Reads the first few pages and talks aloud) Smokeless powder... artillery shells... explosive powders... rifles and ammunition... artillery pieces Christ there is enough in here to equip freaking armies
Harbormaster: I know, and think of the cost, think of the damages to the businesses if we didn't make sure Germany lost; all of this would be unpaid for
Hearst: Why are you coming forward with this stuff now; why didn't you blow the lid months or years ago
Harbormaster: Well it was one thing when this dirty devils tried to ruin my reputation during the Lusitania hearings; but now they are purposefully sending American Boys to die for greed and lies
Hearst: Well you can bet your last penny that I'm going to Wilson himself with these charges
Harbormaster: You wouldn't want to publish them first and let the lying bastards be at the mercy of the people?
Hearst: I'm no fan of that pompous Princeton fool, but it makes more sense to let him know that his jig is up; and give him the chance to reverse the course we have taken; and THEN destroy him with your documents.
Harbormaster: Well I trust your judgment Mr. Hearst, I'll leave the documents with you; I would prefer you keep my involvement out of the story; although the nature of the documents will likely not afford me much chance to hide my identity
Hearst: It's a brave thing you've done sir, I shant forget it; and when the story is printed you can duly expect 25 percent of the profits for that day's New York Herald publication
Harbormaster: Since there is a good chance I'll be right fired after that, I'm happy to accept your arrangement Mr. Hearst
Hearst: Splendid! I'll call on you when we are ready to go to print


to be continued...

your thoughts?


The message never sent


The SS California, full of war materials just before she was sunk by a U-boat


William Randolf Hearst was given loads of secret documents which detailed the unholy alliance between American factories and banks and the Entente


In the NY Harbormaster's opinion the American flag had been draped over the Entente since the war started
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