[citation needed] 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.

[7] 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.

[6] 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.

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.

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.

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.

The Germans were prepared for this possibility and launched Operation Achse to forcibly disarm Italian troops in southern France and the Balkans.

[11] Ludwiger wrote in his report that With the permanent destruction of the villages in all the areas they passed from, but mainly with the decisive burning of the communistic centre of Karpenisi, the partisans were deprived from numerous possible shelters.

[1] 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.

After being held in a POW camp, 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 [fi] and SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Karl von Oberkamp, all of whom received the death penalty.