Page 11 - The Secret War in the Italian front in WWI (1915-1918)

PREFACE

The significant evolution of the Italian army Intelligence during World War I took place in several
complex stages, sometimes further complicated by the conflicting views on the functions of the
Intelligence Service. The present book provides a detailed analysis on this subject and, thanks to
substantial archive documentation, reveals aspects that have been hardly known until now.
On the other hand, the attention devoted by Italian historiography on WWI to the technological/
industrial aspects of the war rarely focuses on the employment of highly advanced technologies
for intelligence operations which, by the way, found applications in civil sectors during the
post-war era. In this regard, air-to-ground radio communications, photographic recordings from
airplanes, new chemical substances utilized for invisible inks, and even hidden microphones used
for prisoners’ ‘indirect’ interrogation, can be mentioned.
For certain, one of the important novelties during the conflict was the support given by wire
and wireless technologies to Communication Intelligence for intercepting and interpreting enemy
dispatches. This subject, which constitutes the core of this volume, had not yet found adequate
attention in the Italian historiographical literature unlike what happened in publications of other
Countries involved in the conflict.
A deep analysis of the documentation available in the Italian Armed Forces archives combined
with the study of Austro-Hungarian accounts was therefore appropriate to shed light on that
topic, adopting a unified vision and a modern interpretation of the events on the Italian-Austrian
operational theater.
Some of the achieved results may be considered unexpected, but this preface is not the place to reveal
them, leaving the reader the pleasure of the discovery. I would only remark that the updated picture on the
Italian army cryptography referring to the events of the 12 Isonzo battle, has allowed a critical review
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of the evaluations of the Caporetto Commission of Inquiry which assessed an alleged Italian inferiority
in this field but was not founded on a precise knowledge of real events.
It is also important to underscore the collaboration, documented in some passages of the book,
between the Italian army and navy cryptographic departments for the interpretation of Austro-
Hungarian naval fleet and German submarines encrypted radiotelegraphic communications,
highlighting an important and innovative joint approach.
Lastly, this work provides a very deep analysis of the Italian Army Information Service evolution
from the foundation of the Kingdom of Italy until the end of the World War I, showing how it reached
operational capabilities in some advanced techniques of information collection, comparable with
those of enemy and allied Armies.

This volume issued by the Defense General Staff Historical Office represents an important con-
tribution to the Intelligence Service history and a valuable scientific tool now available to the
community of scholars and history lovers, providing them with an organic reconstruction, based
on accurate research, not yet attempted by any other Italian historical work.
In the wake of the success achieved in Italy by the present book, witnessed by the need to reprint
it a year after the first edition, this English version has been published, based on the expectation
of a larger international audience.

The Chief of the Historical Office
Captain ITN Michele SPEZZANO

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