A Higher Form of Killing (54 page)

 
“citizens . . . shield.”:
Kolnische Volkszeitung
,
May 8, 1915.

 
“great joy”: Telegram of 9 May 1915, RM 5/2981. German Military Archive, Freiburg.

 
The decoded translations of the German signals are in file ADM 137/4353 and ADM 187/1859.

 
hunt . . . swine: P. Q. asked by J. King, MP. May 19, 1915.

 
“When . . . fists . . . a mad . . . stolen.”: Mr. Greenwood, IWM/(S)/4118.

 
The story of the two Americans joining in the rioting in Liverpool is from the
New York Times
,
May 25, 1915.

 
“the German’s divorce . . . complete”:
Chatillonais et Auxois
,
May 13, 1915.

 
“Criminal . . . devilish”:
Telegraaf
,
quoted in the
Observer
,
May 9, 1915.

 
“the news . . . hate.”:
Morgenblad
,
May 8, 1915, quoted in the
Times
of May 10, 1915.

 
The full text of the House of Commons debate is given in
Hansard
, May 10, 1915, columns 1859–63.

Captain Webb’s memorandum of May 12, 1915, and Fisher’s and Churchill’s comments are in file ADM 137/1058.

 
“greatly in excess”: Quoted in Hough,
First Sea Lord
,
p. 336.

 
“I am off . . . questionings.”: Fisher to Churchill, May 15, 1915, Marder,
Fear
God and Dread Nought
,
vol. 3, p. 228.

“guarantee . . . menace . . . Mr. Winston . . . me . . . absolutely . . . sea forces whatsoever”: Fisher to Asquith, May 19, 1915, ibid., p. 241.

 
“extraordinary ultimatum . . . mental aberration.”: Quoted in Marder,
From the
Dreadnought to Scapa Flow
,
vol. 2, p. 285. Admiral “Jackie” Fisher’s life continued to run along its eccentric groove. After his resignation, rather than live with his wife, he had moved in with the Duchess of Hamilton, to whom he was close, and her husband. He spent his remaining years writing peppery and disjointed memoirs, dying in 1920.

 
In line with . . . Vanderbilt.: The documents and quotations in these four paragraphs are all in ADM 116/1416.

 
Among the informal statements from the Ministry of Defence is one to P. Beesly, Imperial War Museum archives.

 
In addition to . . . “only one.”: The few sworn crew statements that survive are in ADM 187/1058. The quotation from H. Johnston is from his BBC interview.

 
“I have . . . abaft the bridge.”: Letter from O. Bernard to Mrs. Prichard, August 15, 1915, Imperial War Museum.

 
“tears in his eyes”: J. P. Tumulty,
Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him
,
p. 232.

“see red . . . horrible a thing?”: Ibid.

 
“America . . . lives.”: Colonel House to President Wilson, May 9, 1915, in Link,
The Papers of Woodrow Wilson
,
vol. 33, p. 184.

 
“the sinking . . . European respect”: R. Gregory,
Walter Hines Page
,
p. 96. Link,
The Papers of Woodrow Wilson
, vol. 33, p 129.

 
“the greatest . . . history . . . immediate . . . vigour”:
Literary Digest
, May 22, 1915.

 
“as insincere . . . Presidency.”: Quoted Macmillan,
Peacemakers
, p. 16.

 
 “the ruthless . . . neutrals”: Link,
The Papers of Woodrow Wilson
, vol. 33, p. 151.

 
“because . . . withdraw from it.”: Tumulty,
Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him
, p. 233.

 
“It would be . . . in front of an Army”: W. Bryan to President Wilson, May 9, 1915. Bryan Correspondence, Library of Congress.

 
“As our main interest . . . guarded”: Telegram from C. Spring-Rice to Foreign Office. May 9, 1915, in FO 115/1998.

 
“when . . .
love you
.”: President Wilson to Edith Bolling Galt, in Link,
The Papers of Woodrow Wilson
,
vol. 33, pp. 146–47.

 
The quotation from President Wilson’s Philadelphia speech is in ibid., vol. 33, p.149.

 
“President . . . infamy”: Quoted Ricard,
A Companion to Theodore Roosevelt
, p, 475.

 
“expressing . . . special matter.”: Link,
The Papers of Woodrow Wilson
, p.154.

 
“I just . . . whirl.”: May 11, 1915, ibid., pp. 160–61.

 
“deepest sympathy . . . ram submarines”: The text of the German note is in
Foreign Relations of the U.S. 1915 Supplement
, part 2, p. 389.

 
During . . . reoccurrence: The text of the first American note to Germany is in
Foreign Relations of the U.S. 1915 Supplement
,
part 2, pp. 393–96.

 
“England’s . . . humanity.”: President Wilson to W. Bryan, June 2, 1915, quoted Tansill,
America Goes to War
, p. 238.

 
“all the red blood . . . ask”:
Baltimore Sun
,
May 15, 1915.

 
“In view of . . . massacres.”: Quoted Willis,
Prologue to Nuremberg
, p. 26. (Armenians consider the genocide of their people began on the night of April 23–24, 1915, with the arrest of 235 leading members of their community in Constantinople.)

 
“the necessity . . . neutrals.”: Müller’s diary for May 27, 1915, quoted in his book
Regierte der Kaiser?

 
The text of Germany’s response, which was dated May 28, 1915, and arrived in Washington on May 31, is given in
Foreign Relations of the U.S. 1915
Supplement
,
part 2, pp. 419–21.

 
“more neutral powers . . . war.”: Official report of May 31, 1915, cited in Admiral A. Spindler’s
Der Handelskrieg mit U-Booten
,
vol. 2. p. 101.

 
“which would be . . . people.”: Ibid.

 
“which would take . . . account”: Ibid.

 
The text of the orders is in RM 2/1982, German Military Archive, Freiburg.

President Wilson . . . wrote out his resignation.: The quotations in these five paragraphs about the cabinet meeting and subsequent events are from Seymour,
The Intimate Papers of Colonel House
,
vol. 2, pp. 5–6 and from W. G. McAdoo’s
Crowded
Years
, pp. 330–36. Wilson’s comments to Edith Galt are quoted in K. Marton,
Hidden Power
, p. 18.

 
The text of the second American note to Germany is in
Foreign Relations of the U.S.1915
Supplement
,
part 2, pp. 436–38.

 
“executioner . . . avoid ’em!”: Quoted in Gregory,
Walter Hines Page
,
pp. 102–3.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN—“THE VERY EARTH SHOOK”

 
“quaint . . . tacit understanding”: Quoted Dudley,
Monsters of the Purple Twilight
, p. 42.

 
“a keen . . . carrier pigeons”: Ibid., p. 72.

 
“to exist . . . nerves . . . the demands . . . propeller.”: Ibid., p. 46.

 
“a swallow of cognac”: Ibid., p. 45.

 
“The aerial sea . . . allow for.”: Quoted R. P. Hearne,
Zeppelins and Super-Zeppelins
, p. 60.

 
“an unfailing . . . alive.”: Quoted Dudley,
Monsters
, p. 77.

 
“You . . . German.”: Poolman,
Zeppelins over England
, p. 42.

 
“suddenly . . . undamaged? . . . for a . . .fish.”: Linnarz’s briefing of American war correspondents in Germany, quoted Dudley,
Monsters
, pp. 44–46.

 
E. Oak-Rhind’s observations are in IWM/(D)/14972.

 
“At high . . . city”: Quoted Dudley,
Monsters
, p. 47.

 
“little . . . city.”: Quoted H. G. Castle,
Fire over England
, p. 59.