Second Austrian Liberation Brigade (Kampfgruppe Estermann) Zweite Österreichische Befreiungsbrigade (Kampfgruppe Estermann)

The Second Austrian Liberation Brigade, also known as Kampfgruppe Estermann (named after the unit's last commander Viktor Estermann), is an example of resistance in which soldiers were held back from the front with the help of courageous anti-Nazi doctors. Soldiers were placed "off duty" or "UK" (=unavailable) and thus could not be used for front-line operations.

The Second Austrian Liberation Brigade operated within the Wehrmacht in the Artillery Replacement and Training Division 109 from February 1942 until the end of the war in Brno and Amstetten and saved soldiers "loyal to their homeland" (around 150 in total) from being deployed to the front. The organizational head of the group was the adjutant of the 109th, Hans Janauschek, member of the K.a.V. Norica and K.Ö.H.V. Mercuria, who with the help of his federal brothers Georg Krasser, member of K.P.V. Thuiskonia Vienna and K.a.V. Norica and Franz Derndorfer, member of K.a.V. Norica, transformed the entire department into a disproportionately Austrian, anti-Nazi department.

In addition, shortly before the end of the war, the group was involved in combat operations with retreating Wehrmacht and SS units in the Groß-Hollenstein area. Another member of the group was Edwin Stemberger, a member of the A.V. Raeto-Bavaria and K.a.V. Norica. Hans Janauschek was also in contact with Major Carl Szokoll. This included doctors such as Franz Ritschl, member of K.a.V. Norica, Albert Rheinberger, member of K.a.V. Saxo-Bavaria Prag in Vienna and K.a.V. Norica or Josef Janauschek, member of the K.a.V. Norica and brother of Hans Janauschek. Josef Janauschek, who worked as a troop doctor, described this help as follows in a curriculum vitae written in 1967: "[...] Before Lviv was encircled [in July 1944. Author's note], I came to Brno with our military hospital, where I worked diligently with Georg Krasser and my brother Hans to turn healthy German members of the Wehrmacht into sick Austrians who were not fit for the front. [...]"