Page 121 - The Secret War in the Italian front in WWI (1915-1918)

CHAPTER SIX

Data that seems scarcely significant - such as the ‘touch’ of the
operator using the telegraph - can help identify a land or maritime
unit and follow its movements.
An important component of the traffic analysis is the
Radiogoniometry, also called Radio Direction Finding (RDF)
20
is especially useful to identify the deployment of enemy forces,
also because transmitters are usually located in the proximity of
their Headquarters .
21
The RFD equipment was a creation of Italian scientists and
technicians, who invented it during the first decade of the 20
th
century. While studying directional antennas as far back as 1903,
Professor Alessandro Artom of the Engineering School of Turin
developed an experimental device called direction meter that
was tested by the Italian army. The Engineering Corps Museum
in Rome holds a 1907 radio goniometer, which is shown in
picture 6.9, along with a rudimentary direction indicator, shown
at the bottom of the picture. As stated by Luigi Sacco, Artom’s
equipment were the first ones employed - right after the beginning
of the war - to locate Austrian stations on the Isonzo line. Even
if more advanced than the relic exhibited at the Engineering
Corps Museum, they were soon replaced by Marconi-Bellini-
Tosi’s devices, named after the patents registered in 1908 and
1910 by Ettore Bellini, an engineer, and Alessandro Tosi, a Navy
Lieutenant. In 1912, the Marconi Company purchased the patent
and adopted for its equipment the trade name Marconi - Bellini 6.9 Direction finding equipment
- Tosi, which became well-known as many Armies and Navies used by the Italian army in 1907
were using them during and after the war. (ISCAG Museum)
As already mentioned, the effectiveness of Communication
Intelligence mostly depends on synergy among its components, as shown for instance by David
Khan who remarked that, during the WWI “as the number of codes multiplied, their successful
solution depended increasingly on accurate traffic analysis which allows to distinguish the messages
of one army from those of another” .
22
The third component of COMINT - the cryptologic analysis - will be dealt with after discussing
some security implementation methods and tools.

20 Direction finding devices identify the direction the electromagnetic wave comes from; connecting two or three of them
allowed the position of a transmitting station to be pinpointed.
21 For instance, the distance from the front lines could indicate the Command level, therefore a station positioned in the rear
lines probably coincided with a High Command.
22 D. Khan, op. cit. p.315. Of course, cryptologic analysis also provides useful information to improve the results of traffic
analysis, such as, for instance, the identification of channels and circuits to be intercepted because relevant for Intelligence.

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