Figure 1.--Here two French soldiers assigned to a telephone station are washing their laundry in a trough of a fountain, while three others are watching (1917). If you look carefully you can see the wires in the upper left-hand corner. Telphones and telegraphic communications were only only possible with fixed positions. Once a unit moved foeard orb werev driven back, new connections had to be made. The photograph was a Autochrome taken by Paul Castelnau. He was a Frenchsoldier that left us rare color images of vthe War, in particular images of the immense destruction caused by the Gernmans. Danmage for which they felt no resonsibility.

Battlefield communications were at first based on runners. This changed with the dometication of the horse. So that duruing the Bronze Age the horse had significantkly increased battlefiekld comnmunicationd. Then for over two millenia, the speed of battlefield communications remained unchanged. Armies themselves moved slowe, basically the marching speed of the foot soldier and horse drawn carts with their supplies. This finally began to change in the mid-19th century. This began wilth railways, but railroads were very primitive until the 1850s. And it is at this same time that telegraphy was invented. Samuel F.B. Morse sent his first telegraph message from Washington, D.C. to Baltimore, Maryland (1844). Soon afret the telepjone was invented (1878). These were not, however, battkefiekd communication systems. They permitted communications to headquaters units. And to some degree to commuicate to units in fixed positiions. Once the units were on the move, however, communications were severed as the connectionx were were dependent on wires. Naval commuications were different bcause ships were large enough thst they coula accodate wireless systems. Something that land units could not do. This did not chnge until the end if the War when mobile commuication trucks appeared in U.S. Army units.

The Telegram

The telegram was developed in the 1830s and 1840s by Samuel Morse and others experimenting with electrical signals. They revolutionized long-distance communication. And army officers soon recognized the military importance and revolutionized military communications. The telefram plazyed huge rolde role in the American Civil War (1861-65). The telegram proved to be valuable at the tactical, operational, and strategic level. The huge northerm telegraph system combined with the massive rail system which fundamentally changed troop movement and supply played a role in the Federal victory. The more limited southern system mant that the Confederav=cu could make less use of it. The United States Military Telegraph Service (USMT) sent sdome 6.5 million messages during the War and added 5,000 miles of line. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant describd his relsnce on the telegraph, noting thst he 'held frequent conversations over the wires' about strategy with Secretary of War Stanton during 1863. He described conversation lasting 2 hours. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman described the 'perfect concert of action' between his forces in Georgia and Grant in Virginia during 1864. President Lincoln was glud to the telephine lines during mnajor battles. And the telegaph was fairy secure. That is because telegram wires involved lines strung behind front lines and were thus not easily acceable by the eneny.

Internationl Cables

Internationl cables were long distance telegrams. Telegraphy was developed (1840s). That worked very well in continental Europe. Very quickly there were effirts to develop undersea cables, first to cross the English Channel, but already the United States america was becoming important creating a need for a connection cross the North Atlantic. America and Britain worked on undersea cablese. The first was laid (1850s), but there were initially technical issues. Brutain and then Germany laid trans-Atlantic cables. Britain with its expansive Empire was particular interested in undewater cables and eventually extened their cable systenm into the Indian and Pcific Oceans. The All Red Network was conmpleted (1902). Their world-wide cable system gave Britain a huge advantage when World War I came. The Cable Wars is a poorly reported part of the War. Brtitain immediately cut the five German cables. The German tried the same, but with very limited success. International cables outside Europe largely controlled by the British. The Germans tried to compesate by using Denmark and Sweden to semd messages to their embasies in the United States and Latin America. But these messages went through the British cable network. Thy were intercepted and eventually read by British code breakers. They were not combat messages, but could contain messages of considrable importance. Perhasps the most famous telegram of all time was the Zimmermanm Telegram which played a major role in bringing America into the War (1917).

Telephone

The telephone was invented by Alexander Grahm Bell (1876). There is some disputev as to the origibal inventor, butbwhat is umoprtant herev isth thev time frame. The telephone like the telegram was dependent on wires. Telephone lines could be strung to the trenches. The telephone was a step above the telegram because more nuanced conversations could be conducted and there wa no delay in sending and decciphering Morse code. And it was secure because all the lines were in or behind the trenches.

Radio

World War I armies had a half century to adjust to the telegram. While national cable systems were relartively secure. The wireless (radio) was an entirely different matter. It had enormous military potential far beyound the telegtam. But it was very new and still being developed. Wireless first came to the public conciouness with the RMS Titanic Disaster (1912). Only modernships and naval vessels had wireless at the time. Wireless was also very insecure. Unlike telegrams. Beligerant nations could receive radio eneny messages at some distance from the battlefield. World War I armies and navies operated largely independently in World War I. This is one reason that navies formed infantry forces (marines). The codes used by combatant armies and navies were different. A naval ship could have a small easily secured wireless and coding message center. Army field units, especially mobile units, faced a more difficult challenge. And there was a need to develop new codes with the deployment of the new wireless. Telegraph codes were relarively secure. While little progress was made in battle-field commsnd and control, the appearance of radio sets just before the War did revolutionize military communications, both art sea and on land. The fact that signals naval and and army commanders were transmitted for the first time meant that interception was possible on a large scale for the first time. Wireless communications were insecure because they could be easily picked up by the enemy. It took some time for the military forces to adjust to this new reality through several years of fighting. The American Expeditionary Force (AEF) was unprepared for this when it arrived in France. Experimentation brought major advances. In America, AT&T developed two-way voice communication with airplanes, although this would only become practical after the War. The U.S. Army installed the first operational two-way radios in planes, prior to U.S. involvement. This development began in 1915 at San Diego, and by 1916 technicians could send a radio telegraph over a distance of 140 miles. Radio telegraph messages were also exchanged between planes in flight. And finally in 1917, a human voice was transmitted by radio from a plane in flight to an operator on the ground for the first time. These developments weee, however, not incorprate in World War I combat. It dis mean that the technology would be available for World War II.

Created: 8:21 AM 3/5/2023
Last updated: 10:06 PM 6/21/2023