Page 119 - The Secret War in the Italian front in WWI (1915-1918)

CHAPTER SIX

COMINT relies on several means corresponding to specific phases in the process of information
collection from enemy transmissions. The most important ones are:
– interception, namely find out, copying and recording enemy dispatches;
– traffic analysis, namely studying intercepted traffic to get information, even without interpreting
the meaning of messages;
– interpretation of intercepted dispatches, which includes the cryptology analysis.
A full efficacy of Communication Intelligence can be achieved by mean of a close synergy between
the three sectors just mentioned: interception, traffic analysis, and cryptologic operations.
A further form of attack on enemy communications, which is somehow alternative to interception,
consists of interference to the point of complete communication interdiction, a technique that
is now called jamming. Radio interference was systematically used also on the Italian-Austrian
front, for instance to prevent enemy reconnaissance aircrafts from transmitting to ground stations
information that could be useful in aiming enemy artillery against one’s lines or in disclosing the
positions and movements of troops.
During the war, French military experts submitted to the Allied Radiotelegraphic Committee a
radio interference plan to be implemented against the international radio connections of the Central
Powers. The plan was rejected due to opposition by the British, who thought that interception
would be more fruitful than interdiction of enemy communications .
17
Telecommunications, both radio and telephone, were frequently employed for various forms
of deception. The Austrian Army attempted radio deception during some phases of the war
by increasing the intensity of radio traffic in areas other than the ones where attacks were
being prepared. Moreover, on several occasions the Italian and the Austrian tried to deceive
one another by false phonograms or mere telephone conversations that seemed real and could
be easily interpreted by the enemy. For avoiding the dangers of deception, the data gathered
through interception, decryption and/or interpretation, must be validated by comparison with
other information.
To defend their telecommunications from attacks, all armies adopted defensive measures that can
now be globally considered as pertaining to Communication Security or COMSEC which includes
the physical defence of equipment and material integrity, as well as the protection of transmission
channels and carried messages.
The following paragraph briefly describes the offensive and defensive methods used during the
WWI in the domain of telephone and radiotelegraph communications.

TelePhone eavesdroPPIng
The mass telephone interception carried out during the WWI along the land front lines, resulted
as an important source of information for Intelligence. As soon as the war broke out, all armies
realised that they could listen to enemy conversations through their own ordinary telephones. They
immediately profited from this opportunity creating more adequate high-sensitivity devices and
organizing specialized services to carry out systematic eavesdropping operations.
Most interception did not happen by tapping or direct insertion into enemy connections but mainly
by telephone lines installed in favourable positions with respect to the enemy lines, exploiting the
combined effect of ground conductivity and electromagnetic induction.
Since field telephones were largely used, Intelligence could rely on information more relevant in
terms of quantity, but of different nature than that collected through Radio Intelligence. In fact, the

17 F. Cartier, Souvenirs, op.cit., No. 85, p.35.

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