Electronic Warfare in WW1 by Robert Robinson
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Electronic Warfare in WW1 by Robert Robinson
On August 4, 1914 Britain opened the telegraph war by
cutting the German submarine cable that ran from
There is a common misconception that electronic
Borkum in the North Sea to the Spanish island of
warfare began with the Second World War but, even if it
Tenerife in the South Atlantic. There was a substantial
was not so labeled, it played a significant part in the
German research station on the coast of Tenerife and
First World War at both a strategic and a tactical level.
there were fears (possibly incorrect) that this was being
used as a cover for espionage and potentially for U boat
Both sides relied on complex cable and wireless links
support. As Tenerife lay close to the sea routes that
for communication and intelligence gathering on an
British ships would take to Britain’s West African
international scale whilst, at the fronts, they maintained
colonies and South Africa, Winston Churchill (then 1st
a complex web of trench and field telephone lines and
Lord of the Admiralty) ordered the cutting of the
exchanges. It has been said that in 1918 that there were
communications link.
probably more military telephones serving the Allied
lines on the Western front than there were domestic
The next step was the remaining German cables
‘phones in Britain, America and France. It would
running through the English Channel. Many of these
therefore be surprising if the Allies and the Central
were simply grappled, raised and cut but some (linking
Powers had not attempted to damage each others
to neutral countries) were patched into the British cable
networks, protect their own, gather intelligence from
network this providing the Allies with additional capacity
their opponent’ networks and disseminate misleading
(and in the short term probably intercepting incoming
information through it.
messages for Germany from the remote terminus of the
cable). Much of Germany’s telegraph connection to the
The Telegraph War
world beyond the Central Powers was destroyed.
The electric telegraph played an important role as early
as the American Civil War and by the 1870s most major
Germany struck back, on 7th September 1914 the
armies had telegraph sections that could lay cables and
German cruiser SMS Nurnberg, accompanied by SMS
relay messages. In the Franco Prussian War the French
Leipzig under cover of the French flag approached the
were already deploying portable telegraph sets that
tiny Pacific territory of Fanning Island. Fanning Island’s
could be strapped to a soldier’s back. The British Army
only importance was that a submarine cable from
in the 1880s developed a horse drawn limber system
Canada came ashore to a cable station provided the
that could lay telegraph cable at the gallop. Almost all
switching capacity to route messages to and from two
armies were still using such equipment in 1918
connecting cables, one to Australia and the other to
(although many of the cable laying vehicles were
New Zealand. A landing party from the Nurnberg
motorized).
wrecked the station and cut the cables (they also found
time to raid the local post office and steal some
More spectacular was the expansion of the international
stamps!).
telegraph network, mainly through the laying of
submarine cables (each cable comprising many
In November 1914 the crew of the German commerce
individual wires). Every major power owned its own
raider Emden were ordered to destroy the cable station
commercial network of cables, in time of war these
on Direction Island in the Coccos. This station provided
came under either direct government control or close
a link between Australia and South Africa. On the
supervision. The technology had also advanced to the
morning of the 9th the cable station staff saw a warship
point where primitive forms of multiplexer and code
approaching. Having been warned about SMS Emden
compressors were in use to allow a single wire to
the station’s wireless operator sent out a message.
handle multiple messages. Switching equipment,
"Strange warship approaching" and shortly afterwards
although fundamentally mechanical, had become
"SOS! Emden here" before a German landing party took
complex and expensive. The destruction or damage of
the station. These messages were picked up by a
an international telegraph station or relay could cause
passing troop convoy and one of the cruisers escorting
considerable disruption and take a long time to replace
it peeled off making full speed towards Direction. The
(especially if complex equipment had to be transported
cruiser was the HMAS Sidney; within an hour and a half
to it by sea). Such stations thus became important
of battle being joined the burning Emden was beached
strategic targets in time of war.
on the nearby North Keeling Island. The landing party
managed to cut one cable and wreck some
Britain with her wide spread empire and trading
instrumentation before fleeing (they made it back to
interests was particularly vulnerable to damage to the
Germany after 7 months via the Dutch East Indies and
cable network, she was, however, well placed to protect
Turkey).
her cables and wreak havoc on those of her enemies.
Germany had a problem as, for geological reasons,
most of her international cables left Europe via the Telegraph staff under German guard Direction
English Channel. As we shall see later she made some Island
alternative arrangements. Wireless mast destroyed by Germans Direction IslandThe threat of German raiding parties was not lost on to pick up) when the phone was being used to transmit
other parts of the World. In Canada, troops were Morse buzzes (as was the case over long lines). As the
despatched to guard telegraph stations on both Pacific Germans perfected the sensitivity of the Moritz Stations
and Atlantic coasts. In New Zealand the coastal forts, they could ‘bug’ a phone from a kilometre away.
with their disappearing guns, were manned. However Moreover, as the signal was transmitted through the
with the destruction of the German squadron at the ground, by creating underground saps towards the
battle of the Falkland Islands, the loss of the Emden and British lines they could sit at its end and pick up even
the fall of the port of Tsientao Germany had no naval more signals. One interesting sidelight to this is that the
force outside European waters that could threaten the German monitors frequently picked up a whistling noise
international cable network. that sounded like the screech of a descending shell.
Known as ‘screamers’ these were at one time thought to
Tapping the Telephones. be artificial noises made by British operators attempting
The Western Front was festooned with the wires of to ‘jam’ the interception; they are now known to have
trench and field telephone and telegraph systems. been created by the solar wind hitting the ionosphere –
true signals from outer space.
Field telephone exchange
Although the official British Army instruction was to bury Once the problem was identified attempts were made to
these at least a foot and a half this was not always find ways to intercept the German trench telephones by
possible in the heat of an action. Other armies on both picking up the magnetic induction from operation of the
sides would have the same problem and wires might be speaker or buzzer. How successful this was is unknown
laid across the open ground, draped across the tops of as the results were classified and seem to have been
trenches and shell holes, lie under duck boards, be lost for ever in the labyrinth of military secrecy. At the
tacked along the sides of trenches or even properly same time a British device called the Fullerphone, the
buried. As the trench line altered with minor advances invention of a Captain (later Major General) A C Fuller
and retreats some wires might end up crossing from in 1915, was investigated and then adopted. The
friendly trenches across no mans land through enemy Fullerphone could send Morse over a 20 mile long
positions and back to ones own side. Where enemy single wire line and voice over a shorter distance. On
wires were spotted exposed in no mans, land men some versions of the device it could send Morse and
might crawl out at night and lay wires to tap them. In voice simultaneously along the same line (effectively
other cases shell fire or even the inadvertent clumsy what your broadband modem does only it’s much much
boot might break the wires. In some cases, when the faster). When used on normal phone lines distance was
line was thinly manned or sentries inattentive, wire taps not a problem. It used a DC signal that was much less
were even laid onto cables in the enemy’s trench. The powerful than the old trench telephone and therefore
trench telephone and telegraph system on either side much more difficult for the Moritz Stations to pick up. At
was not secure or reliable. the same time the Morse system depended on a device
in each phone called a ‘buzz chopper’, the people at
However the British began to get a sense that their calls each end had to synchronise their buzz choppers, these
were being intercepted with alarming ease. This was acted as a scrambling device so that no third party
serious as the enemy might, for example, gain advance could listen in. As a bonus it was found that the Morse
warning of a trench raid or learn when the line was signals could be transmitted over damaged lines and
thinly manned. However no one could work out why this across breaks (provided each side of the break was in
was so. It became the common practice not to pass any ground contact and not too far apart).
important information by the trench phones but to rely
on despatch riders and runners even with the risk of Fullerphone in use
additional casualties to the messengers. At the same Like all new devices it took time to roll the new system
time emergency signalling methods such as warning out but it was in fairly widespread use amongst the
rockets were kept handy as, with the predictably Allies by the end of the war. More advanced versions of
malignity of inanimate objects, the trench phone would the Fullerphone system were in extensive use in World
fail just when a call for help was needed. War Two.
The cause of the security problem was found by Wireless Wars
accident when a signals instructor, Sgt Lorne Hicks, on In 1914 the use of wireless was largely restricted to
a course in Canada found that his phone was picking up large relatively permanent land installations and ships.
the signal of the man next to him. The British field The inhibiting factor was both the lack of portability of
telephone relied on a ground return system. In this the the equipment itself (particularly the receiving units) and
phones are connected by a single wire with the ‘second the size of aerial needed to have any sort of effective
wire’ of the circuit being a short wire to a spike in the range. By the end of 1918 wireless sets were in use in
ground. The AC current on the phones was creating a the front line, in tanks on wireless trucks, from aircraft
signal through the ground that could be picked upon and even motorcycle mounted.
devices known as Moritz Stations. It was worse (easierMotorcycle mounted Marconi set
Right from the beginning wireless played an important
strategic role. Germany anticipated the possible loss of
its submarine cables if war broke out and invested
heavily in installing powerful wireless stations in all its
colonies, even the smallest. German commercial
companies were ‘encouraged’ to set up subsidiaries
with large transmitters and receivers in countries that
were likely to be neutral. The United States was the
principal country in which this was done and Telefunken
established a number of stations there (they also
supplied the US Army with wireless equipment).
Telefunken station on Long owned American Marconi Wireless
Island Company in the United States (after
Powerful stations were established the war the US government
in Germany the main one being a pressurised Marconi into selling its
Nauen.. When war broke out and US operation to General Electric).
Germany lost its cable links it still As one might expect the staff of the
retained a world wide network of various ‘commercial’ wireless
wireless stations. Moreover by stations contained a number of
wirelessing a German station in the intelligence officers and other forms
United States messages could then of spook. They seem to have spent
be put on an international telegraph quite a bit of time trying to find ways
service there. This was how many to get around the US censors whilst
messages to and from Mexico and at the same time monitoring the
South America were transmitted. enemy’s wireless stations’ traffic so
This was facilitated by a strange as to be able to accuse them of the
decision made by President Wilson same thing. Thus at one point the
himself, this was that, whilst to Marconi Company was hauled up
enforce US neutrality, outgoing by the US Authorities who had been
radio messages would be subject to tipped off that the station had
a Federal censor’s approval (to transmitted a message that might
ensure that they were not of a help the Royal Navy intercept a
military nature), there would be no German merchantman that had
control over telegraph messages sailed from New York (Marconi
carried by cable. Thus a coded grovelled and promised never ever
message could be received by a to do it again, and went back and
German commercial wireless carried on as usual).
telegraphy service in the USA and
then taken to an American cable However it was British intelligence,
service for onward transmission to cracking the code used for
anywhere in the world without any messages to and from the German
check on its contents. station, that intercepted the German
telegrams to Mexico (inviting Mexico
Radio mast at Nauen to attack US territory) uncovered
Britain also invested in wireless one of the issues that would bring
stations around the world, primarily America into the war. The same
to service the needs of the Royal undercover activity would be found
Navy. These were in general not as in many neutral countries. However
powerful as the German stations as as many of these joined the Allies in
Britain could rely on the cable declaring war on Germany (starting
system for long range messaging. with the US and Brazil in 1917)
Some commercial services were Germany’s radio network was
also established in neutral constantly eroded.
countries, indeed the most powerful
radio transmitter in the world (in Britain wanted the German colonial
1915) was operated by the British wireless stations closed. Theyposed a risk to British shipping as
they could pass on intelligence on In Togoland the German
merchantmen’s movements to commander abandoned any thought
German commerce raiders and at of a prolonged guerrilla campaign in
the same time help these (and favour of protecting fortifications
blockade runners) avoid Allied around the capital and the wireless
warships. Some of these stations station (he was still only able to hold
were extremely powerful. For out for four weeks but even this was
example that in German South West deemed to by Berlin to be valuable
Africa (today Namibia) could reach as something like 200 messages
both Germany and South America. were transmitted to German
Messages could be relayed to other shipping enabling some valuable
German colonies with lower cargoes to evade the Allied naval
powered stations and to commerce blockade). In the Cameroons the
raiders, blockade runners and U local German strategy abandoned
boats in the South Atlantic and the the capital and the wireless station
Indian Ocean. without a fight in the face of a British
amphibious operation in late
The very first Australian military September 1914 but held out in the
action of World War One was the interior until 1916. In German South
landing of a volunteer force in New West Africa wireless
Guinea to eliminate a German communications were not only
wireless station at Bita Paka near maintained until the middle of 1915
Rabaul. This was done, even before but were used by the Germans to
the Australian army could mobilise, coordinate their resistance to a
at the urgent request of the Royal British/South African force attacking
Navy. The Australians and from the south and Portuguese
Japanese quickly occupied those intrusions in the north. German
German held islands in the Pacific wireless stations in East Africa
that housed wireless stations. lasted longer although a British
Germany’s wireless network had amphibious raid across Lake
started to shrink. When Tsientao fell Victoria in July 21 – 23rd 1915
the German wireless net in the Far destroyed the transmitter and masts
East was silenced. The stations in at Tighe.
the German colonies in Africa took
a little longer. This was in part The German station at Dar es
because of a difference in priorities Salaam had been destroyed by
between France, Belgium and British naval gun fire in August 1914
Britain. Many of the actions in but was rebuilt. Other stations were
German colonies involved at Mwanza, Bukoba being able to
cooperation between British and reach the German station at Nauen,
French or Belgian forces. Britain if atmospheric conditions were right.
wished to be able to advance on It was not until mid 1916 that the
and shut down the wireless stations last German wireless transmitting
as soon as possible whereas station in Africa was silenced. Even
France and Belgium were more then wireless had not ceased to
interested in the acquisition of play a part, the German forces,
territory (and to some extent taking fighting a guerrilla campaign in East
revenge on an invader of their own Africa carried with them wireless
countries). This sometimes created receivers that could be used to pick
friction between the two allies, as up messages from Germany
coordinated actions needed to be whenever an electrical source was
negotiated. At the same time the available and there was time to
German colonial defenders were erect a temporary mast. These were
also split between the desire to in use right up to the end of the War
prolong resistance in the hinterland in November 1918.
and preserve territory and Berlin’s
insistence that the wireless station Codes, Intercepts and
be kept operating as long as Deceptions
possible. As the war continued both the Alliesand the Central Powers used operator who had been previously
wireless more and more identified as being part of the HQ of
extensively. This process was a particular military unit was
encouraged by developments in the detected transmitting from a new
technology that allowed wireless location then this would suggest
sets to be built smaller but be more that the unit had also relocated. The
powerful. However wireless has a volume of signal traffic and any
serious flaw – its signals are changes in this could reveal a unit
impossible to hide. Wireless held in reserve being brought up to
intercepts were used as early as strength and preparing for battle.
August 1914 when German The collection and analysis of such
intelligence was able to listen into data is today referred to as ELINT
wireless messages being (ELectronic INTelligence). As early
transmitted from the Russian Army as the beginning of 1915 Cartier
HQ in Poland. Amazingly these could give the French High-
were in clear, no attempt having Command a complete organisation
been made to encrypt them (the chart of the German armies, corps
Russian author Solzhenitsyn has and cavalry divisions.
said that the Russian Imperial high
command somewhat naively relied A similar system of DF (direction
on transmitting late at night when it finding) stations was set up round
was assumed that the Germans Britain in 1916 by a Capt. H. J.
would have gone to bed and not be Round; these were used to locate
listening!). The intelligence gathered German ships and proved very
contributed to the German victory at effective in detecting movements of
Tannenberg. the German fleet. The scope and
extent of this network was kept very
A code system was vital to secure secret and recipients of intelligence
wireless transmission. All the major gained as a result of its use were
powers began to develop code not told how it was obtained. Some
systems whilst at the same time of these stations, suitably re-
listening to each other’s equipped, were used in WW2 to
transmissions and attempting to pick up German signals for
break their codes. Networks of decoding at Bletchley Park and in
listening stations were established, the Cold War to collect data on
perhaps the most elaborate being Warsaw pact forces. They might still
that established by the French be in service today.
under the command of a
Commandant Cartier with some Both sides were busy trying to
very tall masts (the Eiffel Tower break their opponent’s codes. The
being pressed into service to degree to which they were
provide one of these). This allowed successful is still unclear and there
even relatively small transmitters in are conflicting accounts. One
Germany to be picked up and their reason for this is that if one has
position triangulated and plotted. broken one’s enemy’s code it is
Even without breaking codes this wise to conceal the fact for as long
could provide the Allies with as possible so that he continues to
valuable information. France use it to transmit vital information. If
created a special unit, the 8e on the other hand you become
Régiment de Transmissions, for just aware that your enemy has broken
this work. Working under Cartier its your code it is also a good idea to
HQ was the Eiffel Tower. Every hide the fact that you know so that
operator tapping in Morse signals you can feed him misinformation.
had their own style or ‘fist’ by which British Naval Intelligence was
he could be ‘identified’ even when seeking a way to pass spurious
transmitting coded messages information to the Germans and hit
(although the French did experiment on the idea of devising a top secret
with a Morse key that used an oil wireless code “for the very most
filled relay to smooth out the important messages only” and then
operator’s own rhythm). If an engineering a situation wherebyGerman intelligence gathered ways in which the airship could be
enough information to allow them to cannibalized to provide much
break the code. A British agent needed equipment. On the 21st
travelled to Holland in the guise of November 1917 L59 rose from the
an official visiting the embassy Bulgarian airfield of Yambol to make
there. He stayed in a hotel known to its long flight to the Makonde
have Dutch staff, in the employ of plateau. The L59 had successfully
German intelligence, who would tip crossed the Mediterranean and
off a resident agent. The ‘official’ Egypt and was well beyond the
went out, ostensibly for a night on range of any Allied fighter bases
the town, leaving a locked attaché when on the 22nd of November
case in his room. This contained while passing Khartoum a wireless
papers with enough information to message ‘from Berlin’ informed its
allow an experienced code expert to captain that the German forces in
create his own code book. Covert East Africa had surrendered and he
surveillance observed that the room should abort his mission and return
was entered the attaché cases lock to base. L59 flew back to Bulgaria
picked and a series of photographs covering 4,220 miles and being
taken. Thereafter this code could be airborne for 95 hours. The wireless
used as a direct channel to pass signal had not come from Berlin and
misinformation mixed in with von Letow was still fighting. The
genuine but relatively harmless message had been sent from an
messages. As only British Naval Allied ‘spoof’ station, just one
Intelligence and German example of WW1 electronic warfare
Intelligence had copies of the code albeit a most effective one.
book there was no danger of any
messages being picked up by and L59
confusing any British warships. Zeppelins raiding Britain used radio
About a year later Naval Intelligence signals as a navigational aid and
used a double agent to sell an both British and French stations
update of the code book to the attempted to jam these by
Germans. Even to this day some transmitting on what they assumed
histories state that German would be same frequencies. It was
Intelligence broke the most secret then found that the German aircrew
British naval wireless code, which were using the French
was what British Naval Intelligence transmissions from the Eiffel Tower
had wanted people to think at the to provide fixes. On the night of the
time. 19/20th October 1917, during a
major Zeppelin raid on Britain,
There also appears to have been transmissions from the Eiffel Tower
some use made of ‘spoof’ were switched to another station.
transmissions –wireless messages The effect was to give the German
purporting to have come from navigators completely false
friendly stations but actually sent by bearings. The returning Zeppelins
a hostile one. In 1917 the super were all badly off course, two
Zeppelin L59 was prepared for a ending up in the South of France,
long range, one way, supply and five were destroyed or
mission to German forces, under captured. The use of wireless to
von Letow, still fighting in East mislead was kept quiet (after all the
Africa. It would carry 30,000 pounds Allies might want to do it again). The
of ammunition, weapons, medicine weather was bad that night with
and bandages, materials and strong winds; this was given out as
sewing machines for new uniforms, the reason for the disaster (and may
mail, binoculars, spare rifle bolts, have been a contributing factor).
spare machine gun barrels, bush Even today a number of books on
knives, spare radio parts and a the Zeppelin raids fail to report the
crate of wine. Part of the material of impact of wireless.
the outer envelope was replaced
with tent fabric and considerable ******
thought had been given to otherYou can also read
