Page 176 - The Secret War in the Italian front in WWI (1915-1918)

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

8.11 The “Marconcina” without front door (on left) and a Marconi receiver in the foreground (ISCAG Archive)

8.6 RADIO INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY OF ITALIAN COMMUNICATIONS IN 1915

InTercePTIon and radIogonIoMeTry
The Radiotelegraphic Office in Codroipo coordinated the work of long-wave stations of “Codroipo
and Rivolto for intercepting bulletins, correspondence and international communications”
transmitted by high-power stations like those in Vienna, Pola, Budapest, Berlin, Nauen, Madrid
and Costantinople, as well as of field stations located in Osoppo, Latisana, Padua and Bertiolo

fully dedicated to eavesdropping the Austrian radio transmission on the Italian front . Radio-
76
goniometric stations operated in Padua, Latisana and Osoppo .
77
The instructions delivered to each station to the Office of Codroipo encompassed interception
plans, names of enemy stations to keep under control and even the hours for performing listening
activities. All those stations could communicate also among themselves by means of a special
telegraphic wire network.
By combining the direction-finding data with the depositions of prisoners and deserters it was
possible to identify the position and characteristics of many Austrian stations and, in some cases,
also of the Headquarters they reported to. For instance, it was found that the so called ‘mountain
stations’, fitted into six transportable boxes, were not powered by an engine, but by two men who

st
76 1 Radio Goniometric Section, Relazione sull’operato della Sezione nella presente guerra, op.cit. These stations were
supported by several Armies’ field stations. Osoppo was later transferred to San Daniele.
77 See for instance: 3 Radiotelegraphic Section of the Army, Military History Journal, 1915 - 16 - 17, ISCAG, Coll. 234.
rd

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