Telegraph troops Telegraph troops are responsible for the establishment of their own side ’ s telegraphic communications in war and for the disruption of the enemy ’ s telegraphic communications . The telegraph troops created in Prussia in 1830 within the New Prussian engineer battalions were established as a separate corps in 1899 , which subsequently became the Signal Corps of the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS . Its modern successors are the signal troops and electronic warfare troops . It predecessors used various optical telegraphic systems . German Empire . Prussian telegraph battalions . Telegraph Battalion No . 1 . Telegraph Battalion No . 1 was subordinated to the Guards Corps . Its peacetime location was Berlin ( Treptower Park ) . A Royal Saxon detachment formed the 3rd ( Royal Saxon ) company and elements of the 4th company ; and a Württemberg detachment formed elements of the 2nd and 4th companies . Its day of formation was 25 March 1899 . The battalion was subordinated to the Cavalry Telegraph School . Telegraph Battalion No . 2 . Telegraph Battalion No . 2 was subordinated to the III Corps and 1st Inspectorate of the Telegraph Corps . Peacetime locations were Frankfurt an der Oder and Cottbus . Day of formation was 25 March 1899 . Telegraph Battalion No . 3 . Telegraph Battalion No . 3 was subordinated to the VIII Corps and the 2nd Telegraph Corps Inspectorate . Its year of formation was 1899 and its peacetime locations were in Coblenz the former Boelcke Barracks and , from 1914 , Darmstadt as well . Telegraph Battalion No . 4 . The battalion was established on 1 October 1907 and was subordinated to the XIV Corps and 2nd Inspectorate of the Telegraph Corps . Peacetime locations were Karlsruhe and Freiburg . Telegraph Battalion No . 5 . The battalion was established on 1 October 1912 and was subordinated to the VII Corps and the 1st Inspectorate of the Telegraph Corps . Peacetime location was Danzig . Telegraph Battalion No . 6 . Telegraph Battalion No . 6 was established in 1913 and was garrisoned at Hanover . Saxon telegraph battalions . Telegraph Battalion No . 7 . Telegraph Battalion No . 7 was subordinated to the 1st Telegraph Corps Inspectorate . Its peacetime location was Zeithain . Bavarian telegraph battalions . 1st Telegraph Battalion . The 1st Telegraph Battalion was established in 1901 and garrisoned in Munich . 2nd Telegraph Battalion . The 2nd Telegraph Battalion was established in 1912 and garrisoned in Munich . Deployment in the First World War . At the beginning of the First World War additional signal elements were established from the 9 telegraph battalions and 8 fortress signal companies that belonged to the transport troops . Due to the tactical changeover to trench warfare , from 1915 all telegraph units were renamed as army signal units ( ‚ ‘ Armee - Fernsprechabteilungen ‘ ‘ ) and were divided into elements that operated the existing communications network and elements responsible for the maintenance of communications and construction of new communication links . In trench warfare , cable communications were often cut by the continual barrage of enemy fire . As a result , carrier pigeon s and signal dog s were often used . In addition , special optical signal sections were established .