Hartwig von Ludwiger Gottlob Hartwig Alfred Michael von Ludwiger ( known as Hartwig von Ludwiger ) was a German high - ranking officer during World War II and a recipient of the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves . The Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade Oak Leaves was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership . Hartwig von Ludwiger was responsible for numerous atrocities committed throughout the Balkans . After the war , he was executed by the Yugoslavs as a war criminal . Family . Hartwig von Ludwiger was born in Beuthen , Silesia , in 1895 . He was the son of Bruno Gottlob von Ludwiger ( 1853 – 1915 ) and Adele Cäcilie von Ludwiger ( 1861 - ? ) . He had two older brothers and an older sister : Guido Gottlob von Ludwiger ( 1888 - ? ) Friedrich Gottlob Hartwig Alexander von Ludwiger ( 1891 - ? ) and Elisabeth Olga von Ludwiger ( 1887 - ? ) . He also had two sons , both of whom were killed during World War II ; Gottlob Hanns - Jochen von Ludwiger ( 4 June 1921 - 23 September 1942 ) eventually reached the rank of Oberleutnant and was killed south of Sinyavino . Gottlob Klaus - Detlev von Ludwiger was born on 24 August 1923 . He rose to the rank of Leutnant and fell near Toruń , Poland on 19 February 1945 . Military career . World War I . Hartwig von Ludwiger was called to the " Prussian Army " on 17 ( or 19 ) August 1914 , shortly after the outbreak of World War I , as an officer candidate . He fought in World War I with the 11th Grenadier Regiment , after being commissioned a " Leutnant " on July 30 , 1915 . Von Ludwiger served in various platoons and companies as commander and participated in several well - known battles of the " Great War " in the Western Front – the battle of Champagne , the battle of Arras , the battle of Somme , the battle of Flandres and the battle of Maas – earning the Iron Cross 1st Class for his bravery . He was also wounded in action several times and was awarded the Wound Badge in Silver . Interwar period . After the capitulation of the German Empire in 1918 , he was retained in the Reichswehr . During the early 1920s , he was involved in the suppression of the Silesian Uprisings . He rose to the rank of " Leutnant " ( July 1925 ) and to that of " Oberleutnant " ( 1930 ) . Serving in various Infantry Regiments during the military mobilization following Adolf Hitler ' s rise to power , he was named commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 28th Infantry Regiment in 1936 , having the rank of " Major " . Two years later , on 1 April 1938 , he was promoted to " Oberstleutnant " . World War II . France , Soviet Union and Ukraine . On 1 March 1940 , von Ludwiger was appointed commander of the 83rd Infantry Regiment of the 28th Infantry Division , with which he took part in the Invasion of France . Following Operation Barbarossa , he was awarded the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross on 15 July 1941 , after distinguishing himself " " numerous times " " in the area of Smolensk in the early stages of the campaign , and was promoted to " Oberst " on 1 September 1941 . Due to the heavy casualties his regiment ( and the division as a whole ) suffered while fighting in the Moscow Offensive , the 28th Infantry Division was moved to occupied France to refit as a " Jäger " ( literally " Hunter " , the German equivalent of the Rifles ) Division on 1 December . The 28th Jäger Division was sent back to the front in southern Ukraine , where it participated in the heavy fighting on the Crimean peninsula and especially in the Strait of Kerch . Von Ludwiger was the 163rd officer to be awarded the Oak Leaves on his Knight ' s Cross for his actions during the battles on 23 December 1942 . During his award ceremony , he met his future superior , Hubert Lanz , and his future subordinate Harald von Hirschfeld . Yugoslavia . Von Ludwiger was posted as commander of the 704th Infantry Division in Yugoslavia on 20 February 1943 . The division was later ( April 1 , 1943 ) renamed to 104th Jäger Division and von Ludwiger assumed his post on 3 March 1943 , while within the next month , he was promoted to " Generalmajor " . Von Ludwiger was quite active in the anti - partisan operations . In particular , he was placed in command of a unit consisting mainly of the 724th Jäger Regiment and a Bulgarian regiment , designated " Kampfgruppe von Ludwiger " ( Battle Group von Ludwiger ) . Aided by the Italian " Taurinense " Division , " Kampfgruppe Ludwiger " was tasked with the obliteration of armed guerrillas in the area of Montenegro , mainly Chetniks and Tito ' s communist partisans . This campaign was launched on 20 May under the codename " Fall Schwarz " ( Case Black ) . But , as partisans deliberately avoided open battles with the well - equipped German forces ( at least in Ludwiger ' s sector ) , the overall action of the " Kampfgruppe " returned rather poor results . Subsequently , the unit was dissolved on 9 June and Ludwiger with his staff returned to Požarevac . Of course , Ludwiger didn ' t quit his activities concerning the suppression of partisans . But with chances of extermination of the partisan forces themselves being slim , in the meanwhile Ludwiger launched a terror campaign against the civilian population . Specifically , he implemented the typical 50 : 1 reprisals ratio , which ordered the execution of 50 civilian hostages for every German killed by partisan activity . As a result , in two months ' time , from 1 April to 1 June , Ludwiger ' s superior , supreme commander of Military District Serbia , General Paul Bader , was virtually flooded with Ludwiger ' s requests for reprisals , but he nevertheless authorized them . In total , 500 civilians were killed in reprisals for the murder of 8 German soldiers and 2 Serbian mayors from partisans , while numerous villages were looted and torched . Greece . Upon completion of Operation Black , 104th Jäger Division was ordered to move to Western Greece . While on march to Agrinio , on 10 July , the 2nd Company of the division ' s Pioneer Battalion was ambushed near the Trichonida Lake by Greek guerrillas , who were reported to be dressed like British soldiers . Two officers and 16 soldiers were killed , while another 20 were wounded and several vehicles were destroyed . The next day , an officer was killed from a hand grenade tossed on his vehicle . Ludwiger , installing his headquarters in Agrinio , applied to carry out his usual reprisal tactics against civilians , but this time his request was rejected from the staff of Army Group " E " , as the Germans initially tried to maintain good relations with the Greek population . Despite this , German forces razed a village near Nafpaktos and executed 12 " suspicious gangsters " . After the Allied invasion of Sicily , Italian forces signed an armistice with the Allied troops . The Germans were prepared for this possibility and launched Operation Achse to forcibly disarm Italian troops in southern France and the Balkans . The 1st Company of the 724th Battalion of Ludwiger ' s division was ordered to disarm the Italian garrison in Kefalonia along with the 1st Mountain Division , something that resulted in one of the largest executions of POW s to be committed during World War II : the massacre of the Acqui Division in September 1943 . Hartwig von Ludwiger was promoted to " Generalleutnant " on 1 January 1944 . As of by August 1944 , Ludwiger ' s forces continued the reprisals against the Greek population , now aided by SS divisions . Ludwiger wrote in his report that In the meanwhile however , after the Soviets launched their large summer counteroffensive , Operation Bagration , the German forces in the Balkans faced encirclement . The Germans had evacuated most of mainland Greece by the end of October 1944 , but with Romania and Bulgaria defecting to the Soviet Union , Axis forces were stuck in bitter fighting in the northern Balkans , facing guerrilla forces now supported by the Red Army . Towards the end of the war , on 29 April 1945 , Ludwiger was promoted to General of the Infantry and took command of XXI . Gebirgs - Armeekorps ( XXI Mountain Army Corps ) . Ludwiger and the surviving elements of his division , which had suffered heavy casualties in the Balkans , were captured towards the end of the war . His successor in command of 104th Jäger Division , Generalleutnant Friedrich Stephan was captured as well and was shot in Ljubljana along with three other generals without trial from Yugoslav partisans in early June . Possibly von Ludwiger was captured by Red Army soldiers and was then handed over to the Yugoslavs on 13 May . Trial and execution . After being held in a POW camp , von Ludwiger was put on trial before a Yugoslavian court - martial in Belgrade ( during the 6th Process of the Yugoslav war crimes trials of German officials ) between 27 March and 4 April 1947 , along with several German officers , such as Generalmajor Hans Gravenstein and SS - Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen - SS Karl von Oberkamp , all of whom received the death penalty . Von Ludwiger was specifically indicted for Found guilty of the charges , he was sentenced to death on 1 April 1947 . It remains unclear whether he was executed by firing squad or by hanging ; the sources are contradictory . Nevertheless , he was executed in a prison at Belgrade ; The exact date varies according to the source - possibly on 3 or 5 May , and less plausibly on 25 April . Awards . List of notable decorations and awards presented to Ludwiger throughout his military career :