Anton Freiherr von Zach (German pronunciation: [za:x]) (14 June 1747 – 22 November 1826) was an Austrian general with Hungarian ancestors, who enlisted in the army of Habsburg Austria and fought against the First French Republic.

He found that regimental officers showed more interest in pay and privilege and drill than in learning how to make fighting units more efficient.

[1] In a private letter to the Russian ambassador that was opened by the Austrian government, the army commander Alexander Suvorov described Zach as "sound, discreet and professional, but a great deviser of Unterkunft (logistics) just when I want to burst into flaming action".

[8] For his actions, a grateful emperor awarded him the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa on 13 October 1799.

[1] A skilled mathematician, Zach was more at home in the field of military engineering than he was at combat leadership or in an operational role.

[8] At the Battle of Marengo on 14 June 1800, Zach was chief of staff to Michael von Melas, the Austrian army commander.

He instructed Konrad Valentin von Kaim to direct the pursuit of Napoleon Bonaparte's apparently defeated army.

[9] Historian David G. Chandler asserts that Melas handed tactical control of the pursuit to Zach and does not mention Kaim's role.

As the elite Austrian infantry pressed forward, Desaix attacked again with artillery support from Auguste Marmont's battery.

[13] That evening, Bonaparte proposed a temporary truce to his prisoner, and Zach was allowed to send a note through the lines with the suggestion.

The result was the Convention of Alessandria, in which the Austrian army was allowed to retreat behind the Mincio River in return for evacuating all of their hard-won gains Piedmont and Lombardy.

[14] An Austrian officer noted that the empire would have been better served if Zach had been teaching at the military academy rather than directing the advance guard at Marengo.

When he introduced Zach to his successor, Count Heinrich von Bellegarde, Melas said, "You see this little man, he has a soul as black as his countenance".

[1] Zach's daughter Maria Angelika Wilhelmine (1784–1855) married Oberstleutnant Franz Xaver Richter von Binnenthal (1759–1840) in 1802.

Surprised by the early timing of the invasion, the French commander Eugène de Beauharnais left garrisons at Osoppo and Palmanova and fell back to Sacile.

After John's retreat from Italy and the Battle of Piave River on 8 May, Johann Kalnássy's brigade became separated from the main army.

Zach and Kalnássy were too weak to oppose MacDonald's corps and 7,000 muskets, 71 artillery pieces, and large stockpiles of food and ammunition fell into French hands.

[22] An order of battle dated 15 May, names Zach as a division commander in Ignaz Gyulai's IX Armeekorps, located at Kranj.