Group ATA (Austria) Gruppe ATA (Austria)

In 1939, university lecturer Dr. Johannes Krebs-Waldau founded a group he called ATA (Austria) in his office in the school department of the Reich Governor's Office of Lower Danube in Vienna.

He was drafted into the air force as a first lieutenant in 1940, where he served as a battalion military support officer in an air force unit that looked after more than 4,000 wounded and convalescent soldiers. Due to his position, he was able to protect many soldiers and save them from being sent to the front. In his later role as a courier officer at the Southeast Courier Liaison Office of Air District Command XVII in Vienna, he made contacts in France, Athens, Salonika, Belgrade, Nizh, Bucharest and Sofia.

When he was discharged from the air force in 1942, he returned to Vienna and began to organize conspiratorial activities. Towards the end of the war, his office was relocated to Gießhübl near Amstetten as an alternative office of the Reich Governor's Office. Dr. Krebs-Waldau also played a role in the Artillery Replacement and Training Division 109 under Captain Dr. Manfred Schneider-Wehrthal and took part with him in an organization coordinated by two American agents and the approaching 80th Division of the US Army. This operation enabled the Americans to occupy the Lenzing cellulose factory undamaged on May 4, 1945.