Blaskowitz led the 8th Army during the Invasion of Poland and was the Commander in Chief of Occupied Poland from 1939 to 1940; he had written several memoranda for the German High Command protesting the SS atrocities and handed out death sentences to members of the SS for crimes against the civilian population. He was dismissed, but then re-appointed. He commanded Army Group G during the Allied invasion of Southern France and Operation Nordwind, the last major German offensive of World War II on the Western Front.