Telephone and telegraph lines Telephone and telegraph lines

Telephone and telegraph lines reached the high mountains in the war years, becoming indispensable infrastructures to ensure communication between the lines and the rear. On the Italian side, a permanent telegraph line (State network) connected Auronzo with Misurina and Pieve di Cadore; a telephone line, also permanently double-wired, with a switchboard in Auronzo, followed the telegraph line with a branch to Valle Giralba and Valle Marzon, from which the line to Lavaredo, Cengia and Forcella di Longeres/Longere departed. Here the connections with the individual positions started, sometimes underground, sometimes permanent double wire connections, sometimes temporary field connections. In Forcella di Longeres/Longere and Forcella Passaporto/ Passportenscharte, there were telephone switchboards. Two telephones were placed on the Sasso di Sesto/Sextenstein (one at the top, one at the bottom), two at Forcella di Toblin/Toblinger Riedl, one at Forcella Camoscio, at Forcella Lavaredo, at Forcella Col di Mezzo, Forcella di Longeres/Longere, Passaporto/Passportenscharte, Paterno/Paternkofel.1Archivio dell’Ufficio storico dello Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, Roma, Monografie del I Corpo d’Armata – Genio – Sistemazione difensiva, AUSSME_B1_110D_23A.
An extensive network of telephone and telegraph lines maintained communications between front-line positions and rear lines on the Austrian side even during the war.
In Sesto/Sexten, Moso/Moos, in Val Fiscalina/Fischleintal and on the plateau of the Three Peaks, larger telephone stations were set up where most of the connections with the most distant stations converged. A sketch of border subsection 10b dated February 27, 1916 shows how extensive and widely intertwined the communication routes with the front positions were. In camps, field hospitals, officers’ barracks, and almost every command post, telephone stations were an integral part of the inventory and equipment of each combat position. A telephone line was also laid on the Torre di Toblin/Toblinger Knoten to the observation post. For this reason, in April 1916, a 10-12 day course for aspiring telephone operators was organized in Sesto/Sexten. The telephone became increasingly important for rapid communication during the war and thus also a target for enemy eavesdropping. An order from the command of the Rayon revealed the discovery of a system of Italian listening devices, which were found in the autumn of 1916 by several patrols in the combat zone. Mass-produced devices made of iron drills with long handles, to which a copper wire and a listening apparatus were attached, were placed along the entire front. For fear of enemy eavesdropping, the troops were ordered to reveal only the most necessary information during telephone conversations and that “unconsciously speaking (shouting) excessively loudly while making phone calls will absolutely not be tolerated on the front phones.”2Tiroler Landesarchiv, Standschützen Baon Innsbruck I 1914-1918, Faszikel I, K.u.k. Rayonskommando V. Res.Nr. 1711/Tel., Feindliche Abhorchleitungen, Feldpost 392, am 9. November 1916. In case of non-compliance, telephone operators were repeatedly admonished and punished, as evidenced by a case in March 1917 in which two telephone operators from the Schusterhütte and left-wing posts spoke privately on the telephone and even made observations on important tactical issues that could have been of great advantage to the enemy if the line had been intercepted. Both operators were punished with twenty-one days of individual detention for each operator, aggravated by one day of fasting during the week.3Tiroler Landesarchiv, Standschützen Baon Innsbruck I 1914-1918, Faszikel VI, Bataillonskommandobefehl Nr. 33, Feldpost 526, am 27. März 1917.

(GF, SK)

Kriegsarchiv Wien, Neue Feldakten, Artillerieabschnittskommando GUA 10b, 3347, Linienskizze von Grenzunterabschnitt 10b, 27. Februar 1916.

Tiroler Landesarchiv, Standschützen Baon Innsbruck I 1914-1918, Faszikel IV, k.u.k. Grenzunterabschnittskommando 10b Op.Nr. 31/5, Feldpost 222, am 31. März 1916.

Tiroler Landesarchiv, Standschützen Baon Innsbruck I 1914-1918, Faszikel I, K.u.k. Rayonskommando V. Res.Nr. 1711/Tel., Feindliche Abhorchleitungen, Feldpost 392, am 9. November 1916.

Tiroler Landesarchiv, Standschützen Baon Innsbruck I 1914-1918, Faszikel VI, Bataillonskommandobefehl Nr. 33, Feldpost 526, am 27. März 1917.

Monografie del I Corpo d’Armata – Genio – Sistemazione difensiva, AUSSME_B1_110D_23A , Archivio dell’Ufficio storico dello Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, Roma.