Heitz continued to command the VIII Army Corps during the German invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa. The Corps was sent into central Russia, and took part in the Battle of Białystok–Minsk and the First Battle of Smolensk. After an interlude in the fall of 1941 when the VIII Corps was sent into Paris for occupation duty, the Corps was sent back to the Eastern Front. In the summer of 1942, the Corps was sent towards Southern Russia to participate in the main German strategic summer offensive of the year, Case Blue. In the offensive, Army Group B which included Heitz's Corps was to attack towards the Volga river and Stalingrad.