Page 170 - The Secret War in the Italian front in WWI (1915-1918)

THE SECRET WAR ON THE ITALIAN FRONT IN WWI (1915 – 1918)

of radio equipment on aircrafts by personally conducting some transmission tests, eventually in
flight .
51
The on-board transmitters examined by Sacco probably were built by the S.F.R (Société Française
de Radiocommunication), that would be installed over the next months on Italian aircrafts too,
having modest weight and size, with a 20-25 Km range when the aircraft was at an altitude of
approximately 2500 metres.
The mission report includeded further information about reduced power equipment suitable for front
line communications, mainly when violent enemy artillery fire destroyed all aerial lines and even
underground cables. This was the case with an artillery lookout Sacco visited in the Neucheppelle
area, about 200 metres from the first trenches, where the four cable connections with the artillery
Headquarters were often out of order, compelling personnel to use radio communications.

8.4 EFFECTS OF SACCO’S MISSION IN FRANCE

The dIsaPPoInTIng cooPeraTIon wITh The allIes
Captain Sacco, during his stay in France, could not get any useful input concerning methods to
break enemy ciphers . However he laid the groundwork for an agreement which could allow the
52
interpretation of the Austrian encoded dispatches.
Regarding this topic, the following conclusive lines in Sacco’s report deal with the cooperation
between Italy and France:

I have discussed this issue with Lieutenant Colonel Simon, with Colonel Cartier and with
Major Fraques; it would basically be a matter of:
1) Connecting the two General Headquarters (or at least the Italian one with Paris) by means
of a direct telegraph wire to make communications as fast and secure as possible.
2) Organizing a systematic listening and radio-goniometric service in Italy, which would
result in telegraphic exchange of the most significant intercepted messages and goniometric
measurements.
3) Exchanging with the French General Headquarters, via mail or telegraph, all available
information regarding the enemy’s organization, names, ciphers, etc.
It is not necessary to explain the advantages of such an agreement and the benefit it could bring
to the interpretation of enemy communications .
53
Military attaché Colonel Cav. BREGANZE will specifically report on this issue to His
Excellency the Assistant Chief of the Army Staff.

Sacco did not provide further details because the agreement under which radiograms intercepted on
the Italian front were to be transmitted to France, then decrypted and sent back to Italy as plaintext,

51 The report also includes a vivid account of air observation activities during the French attack in the Arras Souchez region
where six aircraft remained in constant flight and sent 269 communications in just one day. The mainly tasks of air oservers
concerned the movements of enemy infantries, which could be hit by French artillery long before reaching the battlefield.
52 L. Sacco, Manuale, op. cit., p.308.
53 This sentence clearly shows the final objective of the desired collaboration.

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