Judged by now fit to command a corps, he was selected to command XII Corps in place of Lieutenant-General Montagu Stopford, which formed part of Lieutenant-General Miles Dempsey's British Second Army and was chosen to participate in the invasion of Normandy. Ritchie was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 1 January 1944. Aided by his BGS, initially Roy Urquhart, later James Cassels, Ritchie led XII Corps during the Battle of Normandy in the middle of 1944 and the subsequent campaign in Western Europe, ending in May 1945 with the end of the war in Europe. Ritchie unlike his Eighth Army predecessor Cunningham, regained an active command following his dismissal, suggesting the esteem in which he was held by Brooke, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff. For his services in Northwest Europe Ritchie was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 5 July 1945 and he was twice mentioned in despatches during the campaign, for "gallant and distinguished services", on 22 March and 9 August 1945.