1935: The Jansa Plan

Soon after Hitler’s assumption of power in January 1933, it became evident that Austria was a target for the German Reich’s territorial expansion efforts. In order to counter a possible military intervention, a plan was drafted by the Austrian Chief of the General Staff, Field Marshal Lieutenant Alfred Jansa, under the name “Kriegsfall DR”, which would oppose an invasion of German troops. The scenario, referred to as the “Jansa Plan”, envisaged consolidating the bulk of the Austrian armed forces in Upper Austria, along the Traun and the Enns rivers, where it would effectively confront a German advance aimed at Vienna.

Given the fact that the German Wehrmacht had a major advantage and also due to the resulting hopelessness of the battle, the main objective of the plan was, from the outset, to hold back the enemy for as long as it would take for other states to intervene in the battle in Austria’s favour. After 1936 at the latest, due to the changed foreign policy situation, Italian support could no longer be counted on and the Austrian military forces intended for implementing the plan could not progress quickly enough due to budgetary reasons. The defence plan was thus virtually phased out in 1938.