Page 74 - The Secret War in the Italian front in WWI (1915-1918)

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

layout in the areas of operations . The numbers of Austro-Hungarian field post teams were also
24
circulated by the I Office to all armies by way of dedicated newsletters .
25

4.3 COUNTER-ESPIONAGE AND INTERNAL SURVEILLANCE

The collection of enemy information is not the only task entrusted to Intelligence Office. Since
the beginning of the war, it dealt with a variety of functions, including the management of some
codes and ciphers as well as the decrypting of enemy dispatches, analysed in another part of this
book. Another task of primary importance was the coordination of the many forms of counter-
espionage activities ranging from the fight against sabotage to the battle against defeatism, from
the surveillance of the rear positions to the protection of military secrets.
But it was not enough, because the Intelligence Office also had an important role in other sectors,
like the coordination of censorship, especially mail censorship, and was directly involved in
propaganda operations until it became responsible for the P Service in 1918.

The ProTecTIon of MIlITary secreTs
Following the previously mentioned General Cadorna requests, several laws and edicts were issued
between spring and summer 1915 to protect the Nation and the Army, by restricting personal
freedom and forbidding the dissemination of information on military operations . In a decree
26
issued in June, severe penalties were envisaged on “anyone who communicates to a group of
people or to single persons, information on national defence or military operations, other than
those made public by the Government or by High Commands of the Armies or of the Army” .
27
General Cadorna also took provisions to protect the secrecy of military operations, by prohibiting
officers from carrying with them, at the front line, operation order or other documents, such as
personal diaries containing information about for instance the troops deployment. He also decided
to limit the distribution of orders of operation, or excerpts thereof, to maintain the secrecy of the
concept of action at large, allowing only the high commands to be fully aware of this, as needed
“for the regular conduct of operations, while the depending Headquarters will only be informed
about whatever pertains to them in order to execute their mandate as best as possible” .
28
On 31 July 1915, the Supreme Command divided the ‘war zone’ i.e., the provinces of the Kingdom
declared in a state of war in two parts: the ‘territory of operations’ where the units at the front
fought, and the ‘territory of the rear’ where the units not engaged in combat stationed, together with
supply and transportation means. Severe restrictions were applied to the territory of operations “to
increasingly and effectively contribute to the prevention and repression of military indiscretions
and espionage”. Among other restraints, civilians in war zones were forbidden to keep telegraphic
or radiotelegraphic materials, carrier pigeons, and visual or acoustic signalling devices.

nd
24 Headquarters, 2 Army, Intelligence Office, Bulletin no. 140, 9 October 1915, AUSSME, Series F-3.
25 This system worked until as the Austro-Hungarians started to change the numbers of field mail, thus making more difficult
this kind of activity.
26 Law, 21 March 1915 no.273.
27 Decree Law no. 885, 20 June 1915; Circular Letter no.609 of the “Official Military Journal”, 20 June 1915.
28 Supreme Headquarters - Office of the Armies, Circular letter no.5, n.d. (in Spring 1915), AUSSME, Series M-7.

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