Wilhelm Zehner (2 September 1883-11 April 1938) was a General der Infanterie of Austria who served as Chief of the Army in 1936, before the Anschluss with Germany in which he was murdered.
Biography[]
Wilhelm Zehner was born on 2 September 1883, and in 1910 he became a Lieutenant. In 1916, he became a captain during World War I and served on the front with Serbia. Following the end of his Great War service, Zehner commanded Alpine jaeger regiments as a Lieutenant-Colonel, and in 1933 he was given command of the Upper Austrian Brigade as a Major-General. In 1934, Engelbert Dollfuss appointed him as Minister of Defense, and in 1934 Kurt Schuschnigg made him a General der Infanterie. On 11 March 1938 he resigned and was replaced by Maximilian de Angelis, and on 11 April 1938 he was murdered by the Gestapo during the Anschluss due to the Nazi Party's persecution of non-Nazi politicians and generals.