Leon Rupnik, also known as Lav Rupnik or Lev Rupnik (August 10, 1880 – September 4, 1946) was a Slovene general in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia who collaborated with the Fascist Italian and Nazi German occupation forces during World War II. Rupnik served as the President of the Provincial Government of the Nazi-occupied Province of Ljubljana from November 1943 to early May 1945. Between September 1944 and early May 1945, he also served as chief inspector of the Slovene Home Guard (), a collaborationist militia, although he did not have any military command until the last month of the war. Early career Rupnik was born in Lokve near Gorizia, a village in what was then the Austrian county of Gorizia and Gradisca (now part of Nova Gorica, southwestern Slovenia). A career soldier, from 1895 to 1899 he studied at the infantry military academy in Trieste and graduated as a junior second lieutenant. His schooling continued in Vienna from 1905 to 1907. After World War I, he joined the Royal Yugoslav Army in May 1919 with the rank of active staff major. He thereafter climbed the ranks, becoming a lieutenant-colonel (1923), colonel (1927), brigadier general (1933) and major general (1937). When the Wehrmacht invaded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia on April 6, 1941, Rupnik was Chief of Staff of 1st Army Group. The Rupnik Line After the Third Reich and the Kingdom of Italy had formed the Axis alliance, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia decided to construct a line of fortresses along the borders to defend itself against possible attacks from the north and the west. The constructions was mostly carried out on the border with Italy in the Drava Banovina. The line was initially staffed by 15,000, but the number increased to 40,000 by 1941. As Rupnik was in charge of their completion, the 'Rupnik Line' became the common name for these fortifications. The defences were built on the French Maginot Line and Czechoslovak models, adapted to local conditions. After the invasion of Yugoslavia on April 6, 1941, few of them were ready and the German Wehrmacht campaign quickly rendered the line obsolete. Collaboration After the quick defeat of the Royal Yugoslav Army, Rupnik was released from German military prison and moved to the Italian-occupied southern Slovenia (known as Province of Ljubljana) on April 17, 1941. On June 7, 1942, he accepted the position of president of the Provincial Council of Ljubljana,