Feldmarschallleutnant Alfred Johann Theophil Jansa von Tannenau

After graduating from cadet school, Alfred Jansa von Tannenau joins the k.u.k. Infantry Regiment No. 72 'Freiherr von David' in Bratislava [today: Bratislava in Slovakia] and attended war school from 1908 to 1911. On November 1, 1912, he was commissioned as a captain in the army general staff and assigned to the staff of the army inspector and head of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Field Commander Oskar Potiorek, in Sarajevo. There he witnessed the assassination of the heir to the throne and the beginning of the war in 1914.

During the First World War, Alfred Jansa von Tannenau was active as a general staff officer in almost all theaters of war. His assignment to German staffs three times is not unimportant. From September 1915 to February 1916, he was assigned to the staff of Field Marshal August von Mackensen in the Balkans, where he was able to gain his trust. He also got to know his chief of staff, General von Seeckt, who was in charge of rebuilding the German Reichswehr after 1918. Later, he also worked on the staff of German General Otto von Below in Macedonia. He spent a large part of 1917 with Austro-Hungarian units on the Russian front. In 1918, he was finally assigned to the German Army High Command 14 of General Konrad Krafft von Dellmensingen on the Italian front as a liaison officer.

After the fall of the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy, Alfred Jansa von Tannenau was transferred to the army of the First Republic and became colonel and chief of staff of the 3rd Brigade in St. Pölten. Promoted to major general on June 28, 1930, he took command of the brigade, which he led until 1932. At the beginning of 1933, he was sent to the Geneva Disarmament Conference as Austria's delegate. He was then appointed military attaché in the German Reich, where he was also notified in Switzerland. Thanks to his excellent connections from the time of the First World War, he not only gained in-depth knowledge of the rearmament of the Wehrmacht that began after 1935, but was also able to form an accurate picture of the National Socialist regime. He became fully aware of the danger posed by Hitler's Germany. In 1935, he was recalled from Berlin by the Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg and entrusted with the management of Section III of the Federal Ministry of Defense from 1 June. This made him the de facto Chief of the General Staff, although he was not officially given the title until the introduction of compulsory federal service on April 1, 1936.

Alfred Jansa von Tannenau saw his main task as being the rapid development of the army in order to make it capable of defending itself against the German Reich in particular. According to his estimates, an attack by Adolf Hitler was to be expected from 1939. However, there were not enough funds available for his far-reaching plans. A concept for the defense ('Jansa Plan') was drawn up, whereby he tried above all to gain the support of Italy. A fortification system was also planned, but this was not implemented until 1938. Operationally, Alfred Jansa von Tannenau planned to repel the German attackers on the Traun Line, whereby it was important to him to gain time while avoiding a decisive battle until other states - Italy in particular - could intervene.

His clear rejection of the Third Reich and National Socialism as well as his energetic defensive demands were well known to the German leadership. It is therefore not surprising that Adolf Hitler's demands in the Berchtesgaden Agreement with Chancellor Kurz von Schuschnigg on February 12, 1938 included the dismissal of Field Marshal Lieutenant Jansa from his post. This and his replacement by Major General Franz Böhme are recorded as point 8 of the agreements. Federal Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg gave in so as not to further irritate Adolf Hitler by retaining a representative of a "hard line" against Germany, consoling himself with the fact that Alfred Jansa von Tannenau had reached the age limit anyway. However, the general was not officially informed of this decision. He learned of it from the media and private sources and immediately handed in his resignation.

On February 16, 1938, Alfred Jansa von Tannenau made his farewell visit to Commander-in-Chief Federal President Wilhelm Miklas, who told him with regret that Kurt von Schuschnigg did not want any military resistance against Nazi Germany. On February 17, he is presented with his retirement decree. With Alfred Jansa von Tannenau's retirement, a pillar of the Austrian resistance against Hitler's plans collapsed.

The staunch Austrian and opponent of National Socialism had to witness the German Wehrmacht marching into Austria without a fight on March 12, 1938. On September 28, 1938, Alfred Jansa von Tannenau was presented with two orders from Reinhard Heydrich by the Gestapo in Vienna: expulsion 'from all Austrian lands' and forced residence in Erfurt from September 30. He had to keep both orders secret under threat of being sent to a concentration camp. When his officer's pension was cut by a third in 1939 because he had spoken out against National Socialism before 1938, he supplemented his pension as an insurance agent for the Gerling Group in order to finance the studies of his daughters, who had joined him from Vienna. In 1943, he was banned from traveling as an agent. He now works for a car parts distributor.

In Erfurt, Alfred Jansa von Tannenau witnesses the liberation of Austria from the Nazi-German occupiers. Soon after the capitulation of the Third Reich, Austrian prisoners from the Buchenwald concentration camp near Erfurt visit him and thank him for his moral support. He himself remained in Erfurt for the time being, even after the transfer of occupation from the US Army to the Red Army, in order to save his home furnishings in Austria, but soon had to give this up and moved to Graz in spring 1946 and from there to Vienna at the beginning of 1947.

Leopold Figl, Foreign Minister Karl Gruber and State Secretary Ferdinand Graf were invited. At the time, these ÖVP politicians expected the state treaty with the four occupying powers to be concluded soon and wanted to appoint Alfred Jansa von Tannenau to head the new army. Until his 70th birthday in 1954, Jansa worked for the Vienna branch of the car parts distributor for which he had already worked in Erfurt.