Page 76 - The Secret War in the Italian front in WWI (1915-1918)

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

Hence, in the opinion of Garruccio:

With a view to perform a much more effective action than an organisation engaged with many
other tasks (read I Office N/A) could carry out, we should have set a specific organisation, with
adequate staff and means. The Government and particularly H.E. Orlando when he served as
Minister of the Interior in the Boselli Cabinet, had a clear idea and a firm purpose about this
matter. It was also the reason why I was recalled from the front at the beginning of October
1917 .
31
Coversely, the Intelligence Service submitted several reports about the revolutionary initiatives in
Turin, which led to the turmoil of August 1917 and O. Marchetti reported that agents of I Office
had also infiltrated an organisation of deserters who fled to Switzerland and aimed to instigate a
revolution in Italy.
Moreover, following the extension of the war zone to the provinces of Turin, Alessandria, and
Genoa, decided in 1917, the Ministry of War granted substantial funds to the intelligence units of
the local military territorial commands for compensating informers who had infiltrated the mass
of local workers and the political organisations .
32
The military counterintelligence cooperated with the Directorate-General for Public Security of
the Interior Ministry and with its Central Investigation Office created for the needs of war, not
only to fight against subversives, but also to search for shirkers, deserters, and people who failed
to report for conscription, founding refuge both in Italy and abroad, especially in Switzerland .
33

conTrollIng The rear
In the summer of 1915, some concerns arose about the guerrilla activity carried out in some parts
of the Austro-Hungarian territory conquered after the first Italian offensive which had become the
rear portion of the Italian front, since “emissaries tasked with banditry had been left behind with
the double purpose of harassing our operations and causing painful acts of repression against the
people. Many of them are men from the Landsturm, gendarmes, forest rangers who are obviously
disguised. They carry weapons and ammunition, and the Austrian Government paid some of them
one thousand crowns and then, as a reward. They have fired and continue here and there to shoot
our troops in the back, pointing against individuals, officers, freight trains, etc.” .
34
Thus, “very frequent and sudden inspections to hotels, inns (even of the lowest order) [...] in the
houses where rooms are rented, including authorised and unauthorised brothels, were carried out
by Carabinieri teams in plain clothes” .
35
The mobilised and territorial units of the Carabinieri took care of surveillance in the whole war zone
to prevent infiltration by the enemy, or the circulation of spies or dangerous elements. The civilians
suspected of being enemy agents were often interned. Since the beginning of the occupation, the
Italian military authorities had targeted the priests above everyone else, many of whom were
accused of being sympathetic to the cause of the very observant catholic Austria-Hungary.

31 Interrogation report of General Garruccio, op. cit.
32 Ministry of War - Secretariat General, letter no.25294, 18 October 1917, AUSSME, Series F-17.
33 For example, in November 1917, the records of I Service mentioned the discovery of an Italian anarchist residing in Bern
who helped 219 deserters flee to Switzerland.
34 Document of Intelligence Office signed by General Porro, sent to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers on 14 June
1915, AUSSME, Series F-17.
35 Headquarters, 1 Army, Annex to letter no. 22039, 11 July 1916, AUSSME, Series E-1.
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