Carlos Maestromanos, (24 June 1867 - 13 August 1923) was a dedicated cipher specialist during World War 1.
Carlos was stationed in the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) under the command of Smith-Dorrien.
He invented a new way to communicate with allies during the bombardments in the battlefield.
The strategy was to fragment the communications so that they needed all pieces to decipher the entire message.
He would carefully deploy mobile communication stations scattered across the battlefield in which he transmitted short looping transmissions.
Every transmissions would be different to throw off the enemies. And make it harder to decrypt.
The battalion’s officers were all given one set of special communication devices that plugged into the mobile communication stations.
For a full length message the battalions would have to translate a minimum of ten transmissions to fully decipher the message.
This technique was proven as quick but not very effective solution to the communication troubles during the war.
The technique evolved many times over several years.
But the best solutions often were the easiest. During the later stages of the transmissions they played eerie sounds to frighten those who were eavesdropping on the transmissions.
Battle of Monte Grappa[]
During the battle of Monte Grappa the officers hid the communication devices across the trenches under hidden doors in the ground, disguised as trench floor.
These trapdoors often got unnoticed by the enemies because they blended perfectly with the muddy floor boards.
Final years[]
During his final years he was awarded with the special cryptology Medal for his services during the war.
He later retired in a small village in France, and died shortly after.