Totenkopf
On 1 September 1939, the Invasion of Poland began, sparking the Second World War. Meierdrees fought with the Panzer-Division Kempf through the campaign, seeing heavy action in the initial battles for the Mlava Position. At the conclusion of the campaign, Panzer-Division Kempf was disbanded, and the SS-VT formations began forming into the SS-Verfügungs-Division, to be commanded by SS-Gruppenführer Paul Hausser. For personal bravery in combat during the Polish campaign, Meierdrees was awarded the Iron Cross second class.
On 20 October 1939, Meierdrees was transferred to the staff of I./SS-Totenkopf-Artillerie-Regiment, part of the now forming SS-Division Totenkopf commanded by SS-Gruppenführer Theodor Eicke. Meierdrees served with the Totenkopf during the Invasion of France. As a member of the artillery regiment's staff, Meierdrees did not see any frontline combat during the invasion, but did gain valuable experience in the running of an artillery battalion. On 12 June 1940, Meierdrees secured a combat command. He was placed in charge of a platoon of StuG IIIs in the artillery regiment's assault gun unit, SS-Sturmgeschütze-Batterie Totenkopf. He saw a little action during the mopping up of the last French forces. On 9 November 1940, Meierdrees was promoted to SS-Obersturmführer (First Lieutenant).
Read more about this topic: Hubert-Erwin Meierdress, Early War Campaigns