American Signal Intelligence in Northwest Africa and Western Europe

Chapter 1. Situation Report

Early Conditions

American SIGINT operations during World War II were conducted by separate Service Cryptologic Agencies. Both in their Washington centers and in the field, the Army and Navy went largely separate ways. In the Army, moreover, cryptologic activities followed divergent lines for ground and air forces. Different and somewhat separate organizations were developed to serve the needs of ground and air commanders.

The U.S. Army had produced and applied SIGINT in France during World War I. Signal Corps units had then engaged in radio interceptions and goniometry, a term more frequently expressed later as direction finding (DF) or position finding. The intercepted material and "fixes" in 1917–1918 were delivered ...