Page 73 - The Secret War in the Italian front in WWI (1915-1918)

CHAPTER FOUR

During 1917 and 1918, brochures were published containing statistical data on origin, unit,
physical state, age, previous job, level of education, etc. of prisoners and deserters, as well
as excerpts of depositions and opinions about the progress of the war, the political and economic
conditions of the Dual Monarchy, and the morale of the population .
21
Ronge himself recognised “the ability of the Italian Intelligence Service in questioning prisoners
with the use of suitably trained trustees” .
22

caPTured docuMenTs
The analysis of personal and
military documents found
on captured prisoners and
deserters, or corps of enemy
soldiers, often resulted
useful for the intelligence
service. A paragraph of
the Norme generali per
il servizio informazioni
sul nemico (General
Rules for the Intelligence
Service against the enemy)
highlighted “the importance
of information that
documents can reveal, even
those of apparently no value,
when they are examined by
competent people by means 4.4 Manual for electrical and optical communications of the Austro-
of extensive investigative Hungarian army, with Italian Intelligence Office’s stamp
methods”. Therefore, the
Rules established that all documents found on the prisoners or deserters had to be seized by the
Headquarters of the units and sent immediately in a closed envelope to the information-gathering
centres, with the aim of delivering them to the Intelligence Service as soon as possible.
In planning operations that envisioned occupations of enemy positions, small teams of ‘special
shock troops’ were trained within the Headquarters of Infantry Brigades with the support of the
Intelligence Offices of the Armies, to recover classified documents and files on the conquered
trenches .
23
In particular, the analysis of private correspondence revealed the number of military field mail
offices that served the large operational units, thus facilitating the rebuilding of the enemy forces’

21 At the end of 1917, the Intelligence Office of the 3 Army published the pamphlets: Le condizioni interne della Monarchia
rd
austro-ungarica: Inchieste e statistiche sui prigionieri A.U. catturati nelle azioni di agosto-settembre 1917 e concentrati al
campo di Bagnaria Arsa (The internal conditions of the Ausrtro Ungarian Monarchy: Survey and Statistics on AU prisioners
caught during August-September actions and collected at Bagnaia-Arsa field).
22 M. Ronge, Spionaggio, op. cit., p. 318-319.
23 ”Special teams sent to the battlefield have collected very precious enemy maps, documents, etc. through which we can
reconstruct all the Austrian deployment across our front, a perfect knowledge of which is essential for the final victory”
(Headquarters, 8 Army - Intelligence Office, Letter no. 1175/P, 26 June 1918, Documenti nemici (Ememy documents),
th
AUSSME, Series F-3).

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