Ludwig Kübler (2 September 1889 – 18 August 1947) was a German General der Gebirgstruppe (Lieutenant General) who commanded the 1st Mountain Division, XXXXIX Mountain Corps, 4th Army and the Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral during World War II. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for his actions commanding the 1st Mountain Division during the invasion of Poland in 1939. He also commanded the division during the invasion of France and the Low Countries before being appointed to command XXXXIX Mountain Corps. During his command of this corps it was involved in the invasion of Yugoslavia and the attack on the Soviet Union. In December 1941 he was appointed to command the 4th Army, but was dismissed from this post in January of the following year, and placed in the Führerreserve des Heeres (senior officer reserve pool). In September 1943 he was appointed as the commanding general of security troops for Army Group Centre on the Eastern Front, but the following month he was appointed to command the Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral, based at Trieste on the northern Adriatic coast. After being captured by Yugoslav forces at the end of the war, he was tried and executed for war crimes.
Early life
Kübler was born on 2 September 1889, in the village of Hopferau near Munich in the Kingdom of Bavaria. His father was the physician Wilhelm Kübler and he had six brothers and two sisters. In 1895 he enrolled in elementary school in Forstenried which he left after three years, he then attended the Gymnasium in Rosenheim and the humanist Ludwig Gymnasium in Munich. He graduated in 1908 with top grades and turned down a place at the prestigious Maximilianeum for a career in the military. On 20 July 1908, he joined the 15th Royal Bavarian Infantry Regiment "King Friedrich August of Saxony" as a cadet. At the time, the regiment was garrisoned at Neuburg an der Donau. On 26 October of that year, he was appointed as a Fahnenjunker-Unteroffizier (cadet non-commissioned officer). From 1 October 1909 until 14 October 1910 he attended the War School () in Munich, at which he was placed fifth out of 166 students in his year. On 23 October 1910, he was commissioned as a Leutnant. On 15 January 1913 he was posted to the machine gun company of the 3rd Royal Bavarian Infantry Regiment "Prince Karl of Bavaria", then conducted riding training with the 4th Royal Bavarian Chevaulegers Regiment. He spent February and March 1913 conducting machine gun training courses in the field, before taking command of the machine gun company of the 15th Royal Bavarian Infantry Regiment on 1 April.
World War I and the interwar period
At the beginning of World War I, Kübler was serving with 15th Bavarian Infantry Regiment, on the Western Front. He was involved in September 1914 fighting in Lorraine and around St Quentin as commander of a machine gun platoon. On 16 September he was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class. On 21 September he was appointed as the regimental adjutant. On 24 September a serious injury from shell splinters left a conspicuous large scar on his face. Although the injury had not completely healed he returned on 13 January 1915 to his regiment, which took part in the Battle of the Somme. While recuperating, on 17 November he was awarded the Iron Cross 1st class. On 9 July 1915 he was promoted to Oberleutnant, and on 18 August 1918 he was promoted to the rank of Hauptmann.
After the war he was retained in the Reichswehr. He was then a staff officer in the Army Department (T1) of Truppenamt for a few years. From 1925–1926 he was at the General Staff of Group Command 1 in Berlin. He was promoted to the rank of Major on 1 August 1928, and Oberstleutnant on 1 April 1932. On 1 November 1933 he was appointed as the chief of staff of the 7th Division based in Munich, and after transferring to the newly created Wehrmacht, he was promoted to the rank of Oberst on 1 July 1934. This was followed by his appointment on 1 October 1934 as the chief of staff of Wehrkreis VII, the Bavarian military district centred on Munich. He was promoted to Generalmajor on 1 January 1938, and exactly three months later was appointed to command the 1st Mountain Division. The 1st Mountain Division was raised from Wehrkreis VII, with its garrison centred on Garmisch-Partenkirchen. It was recruited from Bavarians, with some Austrians included, and was formed on 9 April 1938. Considerably stronger than most German divisions, it had three mountain infantry regiments rather than two.