Franz Ludwig Freiherr von Soden  
(04.03.1856 - 29.11.1945)
place of birth:  Stuttgart, Württemberg
Königreich Württemberg:  General der Infanterie


Member of Württemberg's nobility and general officer of the Royal Württemberg Army, Franz Freiherr von Soden served as a divisional and corps commander during the Great War. Following a fairly standard peacetime military career for Württemberg's officer corps, von Soden retired from active duty in 1910 as commander of 26th Infantry Division in Stuttgart. He subsequently received the brevet rank of General der Infanterie.

As German Supreme Command prepared for war, General von Soden was asked to return to Stuttgart in order to head up 26th Reserve Infantry Division, part of the XIV. Reserve Corps. Subordinate to Germany's Seventh Army, these units were transported on 2 August to Alsace-Lorraine on the Western Front. They initially took part in fighting in the Vosges Mountains between Nancy and Epinal. The reservists were removed from this front in mid-September, however, and were transferred to Northern France to participate in the 25 September 1914 march on the River Somme. The fighting here quickly settled in to trench warfare, and von Soden's troops remained in this general area through the Battle of the Somme, fought in the summer of 1916.

General von Soden was selected in December 1916 to replace Hans von Zwehl as commander of VII. Reserve Corps. His soldiers were engaged in the Champagne area in mid-January 1917. He was recognized for his exemplary leadership in July when the Crown Prince awarded von Soden with the Pour le Merite. In November, he took command of V. Reserve Corps, which simultaneously put him at the head of Maasgruppe-Ost at Verdun. In the spring of 1918, von Soden and his corps fought an orderly retreat eastward to the River Meuse. With the cessation of hostilities, von Soden lead his troops back to the German homeland for demobilization. He soon thereafter retired from active duty for the second and final time. After the War, he published a number of articles covering the Royal Württemberg Army and headed up the 125th Infantry Regiment's Association of Retired Officers. 

	General der Infanterie ....	17.12.1916
	Pour le Mérite ....................	27.07.1917
	Württemberg MVO ...........	17.09.1914   Komtur