Page 17 - The Secret War in the Italian front in WWI (1915-1918)

INTRODUCTION

Intelligence sectors may be found in the activities carried out by some intelligence services to
achieve the codes and ciphers of the enemy, bought before the war on the illegal market or obtained
tanks to clever stratagems. During the war they were captured during actions on the frontline or
recovered from sunken ships.

sources
Most documents utilised for the research conducted to write this book is preserved in the ‘Historical
Archives, Army General Staff’ (AUSSME). Those Archives keeps significant documentation which
also includes information about the intelligence activities performed by the Situation Office during
WWI as well as by the Colonial Office and by the so-called Scacchieri (Operational Theatres)
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during the pre-war period.
Another relevant source of information on Communication Intelligence was the ‘Historical Archive
of the 1915-1918 Italian-Austrian War’ housed at the Institute of History and Culture of the Corps
of Engineers (ISCAG). In the library of this Institute, hitherto unknown codes and ciphers deposited
there by Luigi Sacco were also found. Material from the Archives of the Historical Offices of the
Navy (AUSSMM) and of the Airforce (AUSSMA) deserves also to be mentioned.
The documentation preserved in the above archives is so vast that it was impossible to analyse it
thoroughly. Therefore, we cannot rule out that future researchers may find, for example, Italian
codes and ciphers overlooked during the research for this book.
The memoirs of the Austrians authors who played a major role in the intelligence and cryptologic
war on the Italian front also resulted helpful since they provided a vast amount of information on
the Italian codes and ciphers and allowed to make significant comparisons.
Among the original information sources, it is worth to mention, in addition to the Luigi Sacco’s
notebook, the significant report made by the Italian Intelligence Service, preserved by the American
cryptologist and diplomat J. Rives Childs. Today this report is at the McGraw Page Library of the
Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia.
A lot of information is also derived from books and articles, listed in the bibliography, and scattered
in several libraries such as the Central Military Library of the Italian army, the Bibliothèque
Nationale ‘Françoise Mitterrand’ in France, the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek of Vienna and
the Communications Library of MISE (Italian Ministry of Economic Development).
A large part of the pictures comes from the ISCAG photographic archive or from the Museum of
that Institute. Wherever not otherwise specified, the remaining pictures were taken from AUSSME
documentation or elaborated by the Authors.

6 Organization structures dealing with geographical areas which are simply called ‘Theatres’ in the following parts of this
book.

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