"Electronic Warfare in WW1" Topic

"There is a common misconception that electronic
warfare began with the Second World War but, even if it
was not so labeled, it played a significant part in the
First World War at both a strategic and a tactical level.

Both sides relied on complex cable and wireless links
for communication and intelligence gathering on an
international scale whilst, at the fronts, they maintained
a complex web of trench and field telephone lines and
exchanges. It has been said that in 1918 that there were
probably more military telephones serving the Allied
lines on the Western front than there were domestic
‘phones in Britain, America and France. It would
therefore be surprising if the Allies and the Central
Powers had not attempted to damage each others
networks, protect their own, gather intelligence from
their opponent' networks and disseminate misleading
information through it.

The Telegraph War
The electric telegraph played an important role as early
as the American Civil War and by the 1870s most major
armies had telegraph sections that could lay cables and
relay messages. In the Franco Prussian War the French
were already deploying portable telegraph sets that
could be strapped to a soldier's back. The British Army
in the 1880s developed a horse drawn limber system
that could lay telegraph cable at the gallop. Almost all
armies were still using such equipment in 1918
(although many of the cable laying vehicles were
motorized)…"
Full article here
PDF link

Amicalement
Armand

The information about wireless is incorrect. There was widespread use of ground-based wireless in August 1914, especially by cavalry on all sides. Heinz Guderian was a wireless operator with a German cavalry division at that time. The experience formed a key part of his thinking around Blitzkrieg.

The Eiffel Tower was used to intercept the German wireless transmissions. With the code deciphered, the French intelligence service was able to understand the German movements in France. The Eiffel Tower was also used for jamming transmissions too.

Robert