At the beginning of the First World War, Kirchheim became a company commander in the Hanoverian Jäger Battalion No. 10 . With his battalion he took part in the fighting on the Western Front, There he was promoted to captain on August 24, 1914 . On the same day Kirchheim was shot through the neck while attempting to take an English battery at Fontaine aux Pierre east of Cambrai . After his recovery he and his battalion transferred to the newly founded Alpine Corps in May 1915 and was deployed with them in Tyrol, Austria-Hungary fighting at the First Battle of the Isonzo. The Archduke Karl visited the battalion on June 27 and gave him the Edelweiss badge, which was worn until the end of the campaign to Shako and cap. His battalion would transfer back to Western Front in early 1916 taking part in the Battle of Verdun where Kirchheim was wounded and sent to Charleville hospital. On August 15 Kirchheim was appointed commander of the battalion. On August 25, 1918, Kirchheim led his battalion to storm the Kemmel when an artillery shell wounded him in the head. For his high merit in the storming Kirchheim was submitted on May 12 for the Pour le Mérite , but did not receive it. In the defensive battle between Somme and Oise, Kirchheim and his battalion again distinguished themselves in such a way that he was proposed for the second time by his regimental commander for the award. On October 13, 1918, Kaiser Wilhelm II issued a cabinet order to award the Pour le Mérite to the deserving officer. In the last weeks of the war, Kirchheim and his battalion were again redeployed, this time they saw action in the Balkans. After the retreat fighting in Serbia and Macedonia, they returned to Germany via Hungary and the Danube and Sava rivers.