Page 244 - The Secret War in the Italian front in WWI (1915-1918)

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

However, the Austrian analysts were still able to decrypt many radiograms, thanks in part to the
development of devices that reduced the time required for decrypting operations . They waited for
34
some Italian telegraphist to make a mistake so that they could seize opportunities on the fly, or they
took advantage of captured codes and ciphers, as happened on numerous occasions, especially
during the shift of the front from the Isonzo to the Piave.
The large number of ciphers used by limited groups of local correspondents made cryptoanalysis
more difficult. For instance, in the whole of the special service ciphers used in radio communications
between Italy and Albania and among units operating in that war zone, it is worth to mention that
adopted in July 1917 by the1 Special Radiotelegraphic Section operating in Albania (picture 11.6)
st
The main table, the auxiliary table, and some instructions for use are fitting in a double A4 sheet.
Out of the hundred positions available in the main table, the terms to be encoded are distributed in
an almost disorderly manner, along the first sub-row with black lettering and the second sub-row
with red figures and words of current use within that Radiotelegraphic Section . The code groups
35
read, as usual, in the first line and in the first column on the left of the main table, are composed
of a two-digit number, possibly preceded by a letter from the auxiliary table for the functions
indicated therein .
36
The service cipher shown in the picture does not coincide with those that Figl called Albanien
Service I and Albanien Service II adopted around mid-1916 and mid-1917 respectively and,
according to Figl, like C1, hence easy to break . The introduction of irregularities makes this small
37
cipher more like C3. It probably coincides with the service cipher of the Italian Expeditionary
Corps in Albania used in autumn 1917, which Figl mentioned in another part of his memoirs, at a
time when the Austrians could not interpret the radiograms encoded through it .
38

noT only ‘grIds’

As mentioned above, the ‘proliferation of ciphers’ started long before the last months of the war. In
fact, after the instructions issued in the previous year, the Italian Armies adopted several encoding
systems to fulfil different communication needs, especially to protect telephone communications
that the enemy could easily intercept. Corps and Divisions followed soon.
For this purpose, initially simple tables to encode the most essential words, and ‘phrasebooks’
containing customary phrases transformed into groups of figures, or letters, or concealed easily
pronounced words, were adopted. An example of phrasebook for communications between
Headquarters and tactical artillery observers is shown in picture 11.7 .
39

34 These were the devices made by Hugo Scheuble (Otto Horak, Andreas Figl, Leben und Werk, op. cit., p.175 ff).
35 The terms in black were encoded using the two digits in the top line and in the left column corresponding to the position
where the word to be encoded is found; for the terms in red, the same procedure was followed with the letter W preceding
the two digits.
st
a
rd
36 3 Engineers Regiment, 1 Special Radiotelegraphic Section, Cifrario usato dalle Stazioni della 1 Sezione RT Speciale,
(Cipher exploited by 1 Special Radiotelegraphic Section), War Zone, Albania, 14 July 1917, ISCAG, Coll. 235.
st
37 O.J. Horak, Oberst a.D. Andreas Figl, op. cit., p. 166 -167; 185 - 186.
38 O. J. Horak, Oberst a.D. Andreas Figl, op. cit., p. 195.
39 Headquarters, 8 Army, Frasi Convenzionali da usarsi per le comunicazioni telefoniche tra gli Osservatori avanzati (tattici
th
e di artiglieria) ed i Comandi (Concealed sentences for telephone communications between advanced observation points,
tactical and artillery and the Headqurters), adopted since 5 September,1918. AUSSME, Series F3, env.147. The phrasebook
was for the transmission of fire data only.
242