On March 18, 1941, he was appointed Wehrmacht commander of Strasbourg, immediately taking office. As such, he was promoted to "Generalmajor" (major general) on March 1, 1941. He then retained his command of Strasbourg for three years, even after the Allied invasion in the summer of 1944. When the French attacked the city on November 23, 1944, he withdrew with about 600 soldiers to Fort Ney, north of Strasbourg. On November 25, 1944, he surrendered to the French with 626 soldiers, going into captivity with 5,000 prisoners taken in the Strasbourg region. This surrender earned Vaterrodt a court martial and a death sentence "in absentia"; a sentence that could never be carried out by the German High Command.