One month before Hitler's annexation of Austria (known as the Anschluss), Canaris put the "Abwehr" into action, personally overseeing deception operations designed to give the Austrians the impression of what appeared to be substantial German military preparations for an impending act of aggression. Despite that the sham action did not move the Austrian Chancellor, Schuschnigg was forced to resign when German troops marched into Austria, which was followed by its official annexation into Greater Germany ("Grossdeutschland") on 13 March 1938. At this development however, Canaris began spending more and more time in the company of Hans Oster and also began formulating ways to forestall or prevent a European war. Among the first to arrive in Vienna, Canaris had a special team seize records from the Austrian archives since he was worried there might be references to his Spanish Civil War arms supplier connections in London. He also absorbed as much of the Austrian intelligence service as he could into the "Abwehr", while avoiding those who were Nazi converts already.