Svoboda, Ludvík

Lud­vík Svo­bo­da (1895−1979) – Czechoslo­vak sol­dier and politi­cian. He was cap­tured as an Aus­tri­an sol­dier on the East­ern Front in World War I and then fought as a legionary. In 1939 he escaped to Poland. Released from intern­ment in in the Sovi­et Union after the Nazi inva­sion, he grad­u­al­ly orga­nized a Czechoslo­vak field bat­tal­ion from offi­cers and vol­un­teers, the 1^st Czechoslo­vak Inde­pen­dent Field Bat­tal­ion, , the nucle­us of 1^st Czechoslo­vak Army Corps in the USSR, which he com­mand­ed. From 1968 to 1975 he was Pres­i­dent of Czechoslovakia.