He was called from retirement in 1939 to take command in the Polish and French campaigns of World War II. In 1941 he commanded the invasion of the Soviet Union but was dismissed after he had withdrawn from Rostov against Hitler’s orders, in order to improve his chances of resisting a Soviet counter-offensive. From 1942 to 1945 he commanded the forces occupying France and launched the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes Campaign in December 1944. Relieved of his command in March 1945, he was captured by US troops in May but released in 1949 on grounds of ill health.