Page 333 - The Secret War in the Italian front in WWI (1915-1918)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

This provision confirmed the previous instructions about the abolition of all the old codes and
prevented Austro-Hungarian analysts from achieving relevant information from the large amount
of the radio dispatches exchanged between the Italian radio stations during the Vittorio Veneto
battle and the following forward movement. The final report of the Inspectorate of the STM
highlighted that “the radiotelegraphic connections were secure and uninterrupted”, despite the
intensity of the events was unparalleled and added:

Even the isolated Radiotelegraphic stations continued their operations under enemy fire with
self-sacrifice and perseverance and repaired aerials several times a day. During the heat of the
fight, ordinary telegraphists took usual care of dealing with correspondence, repairs, as well
as attending to the delicate and difficult tasks of encoding and decoding dispatches .
44

14.5 THE ARMISTICE AND THE POST-WAR PERIOD

The InTernaTIonalIsaTIon of ITalIan MIlITary radIo coMMunIcaTIons
During the armistice negotiations, Italian wireless communications were required to fulfil a task
that was unimaginable until a few days earlier. A connection had to be created between the Austrian
Supreme Command in Baden bei Wien and a radio station of the 1 Radio goniometric section
st
in Padua, to allow the Austrian Plenipotentiaries to exchange dispatches - some of which were
exceptionally long and complex - with their Headquarters in Vienna.
An international radio telegraphic circuit was readily established throughout two Austro-Hungarian
point-to-point Baden-Budapest and Budapest-Pula links, a transboundary link between the stations
of Pula and Coltano - which were equipped to ensure this type of connections but certainly not
between the opposing sides - and finally the link between Coltano and Padua. An excellent service
was offered to the Austrian Plenipotentiaries in the dramatic days of the negotiations, delivering
their telegrams always in a concise time .
45
Immediately after the armistice signature, several other international responsibilities were assigned
to the existing radiotelegraphic sections and to seven new sections, often linked to the tasks of the
Intelligence Service in occupied territory, in the colonies, and abroad .
46
A new radiotelegraphic Section was dispatched to Bohemia and embedded within the Headquarters
of the Czechoslovakian Army Corps. Another Section deployed to Dalmatia within the Headquarters
of the Italian troops installed there; others were sent to various occupied zones and to the East. A 3
kW field and a continuous wave stations installed in Vienna provided a link to Italy for the Italian
Military Mission in the Austrian capital .
47
The Military Missions in Vienna, Berlin, and other capitals, as well as the main information
collection centres, used the new S.I.B. code. For any other radio communication within the Army,
including those of the units deployed in the sectors just mentioned, “the transmitting Headquarters
and Authorities should use one of the authorised ciphers: the S.I. code with Grey tables and 5-digit

44 Chief Inspector, STM, Relazione Tecnica sul Servizio Radiotelegrafico, op. cit., p.13.
45 1 Radio goniometric Section, Relazione sull’operato, op. cit., p.6.
st
46 Chief Inspector, STM, Relazione Tecnica sul Servizio Radiotelegrafico, op. cit., p.14.
47 ibidem. This connection currently operates on the Vienna - Pula and Pula – Padua links.

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