Page 23 - The Secret War in the Italian front in WWI (1915-1918)

CHAPTER ONE

1.2 THE ORIGIN OF THE DEBATE OVER THE ITALIAN MILITARY CRYPTOLOGY

a “rash” judgeMenT

The real origin of the debate can be identified in the report issued in 1919 by the Commission of
enquiry on the Battle of Caporetto. In the section pertaining to “information on the enemy”, this
report essentially exonerates the Intelligence Service of any responsibility for failing to provide
correct information to the Supreme Command bodies about the Austro-German preparations for
the attack of 24 October 1917. However, with the aim of explaining the “extreme difficulties faced
by the Situation Office” in gathering and filtering available information, the report mentions:

the improvements achieved by the enemy’s Intelligence Services (it is enough to remember
the developments in the field of radiotelegraphic interceptions, supported by an extraordinary
cryptographic service),

and, in a footnote, explains that,

during the (Italian N/A) retreat (from the Isonzo to the Piave N/A), the Austrian Staff detected
our radiotelegraphic stations and decrypted our radio cryptograms to identify our retreat
line. The documents captured after the armistice revealed that the enemy had found the keys
to nearly all our codes, even the most protected and complex ones. Therefore, it is easy
to understand that our military and diplomatic performances were conditioned by terrible
inferiority with respect to the enemy .
16
The Italian press gave great prominence to this passage of the report. The Corriere della Sera
17
published it, obviously eliciting satisfaction among the Austrian Intelligence Service chiefs who
were employed in the Cryptographic Units during the war and promptly spread the news among
their ex-subordinates . Ronge too welcomed the unexpected recognition of his work’ success
18
expressed by the Commission and actually, the issues of Corriere della Sera containing a
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summary of the Commission’s report were found among the Austrian General’s papers preserved
in the Kriegsarchiv (War archives) in Vienna.
In the following years, the Commission judgement gained great international diffusion and
reputation, also because quoted by several historians, contributing in a decisive way to supporting
a still widespread thesis that tends to attribute cryptologic superiority to Austria-Hungary over
Italy throughout the entire Great War.
The general silence of the Italian historians and their uncritical acceptance of this idea were
contested only by Osvaldo Marchetti in 1930 and Luigi Sacco in 1947. The former, in his book,
rejected the statements made by the Commission and ironically asked:

16 Rapporto della Commissione d’inchiesta, R.D. 12 gennaio 1919, N° 35, Dall’Isonzo al Piave 24 ottobre – 9 novembre 1917,
Stabilimento Poligrafico per l’Amministrazione della Guerra, Rome, MCMXIX, Vol. II, p. 50 ff.
17 Beginning 12 August 1919, the Corriere della Sera began publishing daily articles summarizing the contents of the
Commission’s report.
18 Johann Prikowitschy, Drahtlose Telegraphie in der k.(u)k. Armee und Marine, Heeres Geschichtliches Museum, Vienna.
2016, p. 386 - 387.
19 ibid., p. 316.

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