Page 167 - The Secret War in the Italian front in WWI (1915-1918)

CHAPTER EIGHT

The Information gathering was possible
thanks to the military agreement
between Italy and the Entente’s Allies
that envisaged “close cooperation
between staff of allied armed forces
through special missions of liaison
officers” . Sacco could rely on the
43
Military Mission established in France
on 25 May 1915 and led by Colonel
Giovanni Breganze.
On coming back to Italy in early August,
Sacco delivered a report summing up the
collected information not limited to the
cryptographic issue, but regarding the
existing situation on the western front line
8.5 Photo of Guglielmo Marconi and Luigi Sacco in Libya in concerning the entire telecommunications
1911, with Marconi dedication (ISCAG Archive) sector, specifically on:

– overall organization of the radiotelegraphic service;
– radiotelegraphic stations for artillery and aircraft;
– direction finding and listening stations;
– field radio network;
– cooperation with the French army in radiotelegraphic communications, which meant in
cryptographic field .
44
A summary of Sacco’s wide-ranging overview and proposals is provided below.

The radIoTelegraPhIc servIce wIThIn The french and englIsh arMIes
Sacco affirmed that the very nature of radio communications required a centralised management of
all radiotelegraphic services. This aspect was also stressed by Colonel Simon and Major Blandy,
“considering how easy it is for stations operating in the same area to disturb each other, and also
how much one can save in terms of personnel and efforts through centralization”. The Author
eventually criticizes the ‘separatist trends’ then existing within the Italian Army that aimed at the
independence of artillery and air force radio services.
In the report, interesting remarks are included concerning the coding procedures within the French
Army where, contrary to what happened in Italy, radiotelegraphic stations received dispatches
that had been previously ciphered by the Encoding Service in each Army. The only plaintext item
was the name of the recipient station. The service in question also encoded wire-telegrams and
employed “always the same officers who, consequently, became surprisingly quick and confident”.
The received telegrams were sent to the Encoding Service, which decoded and forwarded them to
their final addressees. Taking in mind the procedures used in Italy, Sacco remarks: “The French

43 Filippo Cappellano, Relazioni militari con la Francia nella Grande Guerra e le valutazioni del Comando Supremo, in Studi
storici militari, Roma, 2009, p.429.
44 Italian Military Mission at the French General HQ: Relazione sui Servizi RT francese e inglese, G.Q.G (Report on French
and English radiotelegraphic services, General Headquarters), 3 August 1915, AUSSME Series F6, env.7. The report is held
at WWI’s Archive of ISCAG, Coll. 234. It comprises eleven pages without any cover and annexes. The technical annexes -
which were not found - contained news also regarding electrical telegraphy, photography and electrification of wire fences.

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