Page 260 - The Secret War in the Italian front in WWI (1915-1918)

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

An effective TPS communication, due to the currents propagating in the ground and to induction,
could reach distances of up to two or three kilometres, mainly depending on the layout and length
of bases and on the nature and conditions of the ground.
Geo-telegraphy systems - assigned in the Italian Army to radiotelegraphic sections - became one of the
most widespread communication tools between battalions, regiments, and brigades mostly because of
their straightforward installation and usage and of the high survivability degree under enemy fire .
84
Among the drawbacks of geo-telegraphy were, in addition to the limited range of connections, the
sensitivity to noise generated by electrical lines and by telephone and telegraph circuits, as well as
the ease of enemy interception leading to the obligation of avoiding plaintext dispatches.
Among the papers Sacco delivered to the Museum of the Corps of Engineers, a geo-telegraphy
codebook containing 18 pages including that shown in picture 11.19, has been found. The three-
digit code groups were obtained by flanking the page number, the digit characterising each group
of words to be changed frequently and the digit shown next to each word. During 1918, Regimental
cipher R, more resistant to the enemy violation, was applied to geo-telegraphy communications
as well.

11.19 A geo-telegraphy Code with three-digit encoding group (ISCAG Library)

84 The Italian army adopted it in the spring of 1917, 100 French equipment being distributed among the Armed Forces “to
ensure communication between forward lines and the Headquarters immediately behind them (the maximum range was about
3.5 km). The next supplies, whose amplifiers had greater sensitivity, had bases of a smaller size and were finally adopted on
the entire Italian front where it performed admirably. At the end of the war, there were 170 systems in operation”. (Technical
Division of the Supreme Headquarters, Memo for H.E. the Assistant Chief of the General Staff: TPS equipment, 25 March
1918, ISCAG, Coll. 225).

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