Page 79 - The Secret War in the Italian front in WWI (1915-1918)

CHAPTER FOUR

war, in January 1916 a limited number of journalists representing approximately thirty newspapers
were permanently allowed inside the war zone .
48
Propaganda in 1915 had the domestic public opinion as a main target, while since the beginning of
1916, the focus of persuasion turned onto deployed units, also to counter the pacifist propaganda
fostered by the anarchists and by some socialists. In March 1916, the Office for Situation and War
Operations proposed to deliver stronger propaganda efforts across the Army by means of official
and unofficial publications aiming to stimulate the morale of troops and to show them the interest
by the national military and political leaders . Plenty of booklets or simple pamphlets were printed
49
for soldiers with contributions from the Ministry of War or private bodies and distributed to the
troops free of charge or for a few cents.
Between the end of 1915 and 1916, ‘trench newspapers’ - simple handcrafted sheets, usually
printed by cyclostyle on four sides, in few copies - also began to spread on the initiative of
individual units . In 1917, as the trench publications number boosted, their structure became more
50
complete thanks to financial contributions from the Headquarters.
The main editorial initiative in favour of soldiers in 1916-1917 was, however, the Giornale del
Soldato (The Soldier’s Newspaper) whose subscription was restricted to Army units and paid with
the respective budget allotments .
51

4.5 THE WAR OPERATIONS IN 1915-1916

The InITIal assessMenT of eneMy forces

By intensifying its intelligence efforts in April and May of 1915, the I Office could deny persistent
French and Russian rumours concerning a substantial displacement of German forces on the Italian
front . It reconstructed an accurate picture of the field fortification works the Austro-Hungarians
52
prepared along their main line of resistance, especially for protecting Gorizia and the Karst Plateau.
Also, the number of Austro-Hungarian infantry battalions deployed on the Italian front, estimated
at the beginning of June, proved to be remarkably close to the actual one .
53
The Intelligence Office noted a scarcity of enemy forces in the theatre of operation in Tyrol and
Trentino, where “no presence of large, organised forces has been detected. The Austro-Hungarian
troops deployed there were Landsturm battalions, march units, or Ersatzreserve (reserve units)” .
54

48 Supreme Headquarters - Secretary Office, Circular letter no. 223, 15 January 1916, AUSSME, Series F-1. The first guided
tours of Italian and foreign journalists to the front were organised in July-August 1915, (Intelligence Office, Circular Letter
no.2092, 12 July 1915, AUSSME, Series F-1), this letter contained an attachment with the regulations applied to journalists
visiting the war zone.
49 Supreme Headquarters - Office of Situation and War Operations, Memorandum of 17 March 1916, Organizzazione del
servizio delle comunicazioni al pubblico (Organization of the public communication service), AUSSME, Series F-1.
50 Trench newspapers reached the peak of their distribution in 1918 thanks to the support of renown national intellectuals.
Section U “ultimately approved the creation of satirical booklets for the widest possible distribution among troops”
(Intelligence Service, Circular Letter no.1757/SI dated 27 February 1918).
51 Ministry of War - Secretariat General, Circular letter no 23829 dated 23 December 1916, AUSSME, Series F-1. The
Soldier’s Newspaper was published in Milan, “with three copies distributed to every company, squadron, or battery of the
permanent Army or mobile militia”.
52 Intelligence Office, Report no.38, 31 May 1915. “The enemy forces in Trentino seem adequate to conduct strong and active
defence operations, but not significant offensive operations. If the Austrian (or German) Headquarters intend to carry out an
offensive, we believe their main force is still being formed.” (AUSSME, Series B-1, 100/s, 1a).
53 Filippo Cappellano, L’imperial regio esercito austro-ungarico sul fronte italiano, op. cit., pp. 83-87.
54 Supreme Headquarters - War Situation Office, Notizie sul nemico - 15 giugno 1915, AUSSME, Series F-1.

77