Page 263 - The Secret War in the Italian front in WWI (1915-1918)

CHAPTER ELEVEN

generators producing currents of much higher
intensity, causing loud and annoying noise for
the interceptors .
90
The I.T. Service was also responsible for
monitoring communications between the
Italian units to verify the possibility they could
be intercepted. In time, this activity took on
the shape of actual censorship to ascertain, for
example, the infringement of rules relating to
personal or unauthorized telephone calls or to
the lack of concealed languages/ciphers for
relevant communications .
91

a serIous danger for general boroevIc

Several excerpts of enemy telephone
communications intercepted by the stations
of Tivoli (Gorizia), Sleme and many others
came from the Isonzo front concerning enemy
critical operational situations.
Particularly noteworthy was the information
achieved in early May about a train loaded
11.21 Model of a telephone interception station (ISCAG with Landsturm troops, which had fallen from
Archive) a bridge following an explosion, apparently
causing more than 300 deaths and many
injuries. “The disaster could have happened in areas near our front [...] on the railway line between
Villaco and Tolmino” .
92
Some conversations intercepted on 9 August 1917, and in the following days revealed the
circumstances in which a ceremony was planned in the presence of General Boroevic . The first
93
of these dispatches that the Italian telephone interception station in Volzana intercepted reads:
“Hello! On Monday, 12 August, at 8 a.m., His Excellency General Boroevic will be on the Great
Square of Modrejece (two kilometres south of Tolmino) to award decorations to soldiers”. Two
days later, the same Italian station picked up another conversation talking about Italian planes
coming to “celebrate General Boroevic’s arrival”. Suspicious of the presence of Italian aircrafts,
the Austrians decided to postpone the ceremony. Once again, this episode shows the importance of
eavesdropping, primarily when telephone lines transmit information that had to remain confidential.
Telephone communications and telephone interception activities increased during the fighting.
“The telephone interception stations provided invaluable contributions during the two offensives

nd
90 A. Carletti, op. cit., p. 21. A device of this type was patented by the Intercepting Unit of the 2 Army.
91 The reason for limiting telephone communications also lies in the fact that they are one of the main obstacles to intercepting
enemy communications.
92 Operations Division, War Operations and Situation Branch, Memorandum no. 9126, 10 May 1917.
93 Information about the planned Italian air raid came from the book of Ronge titled Les Maitres de l’espionage - 1914-1918,
op. cit., p.215-218.

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