After the German invasion of the USSR Lobe became the commander of the Ventspils self-defence force. There is conflicting information regarding Lobe's participation in the Holocaust, as of now his involvement is yet to be definitively proven. At the end of 1941 Lobe was appointed head of the Latvian self-defence force. Later he was involved in anti-partisan operations against Soviet guerillas in Eastern Latvia and Belarus with the Latvian police battalions. In spring of 1943 Lobe became commander of the 2. (Imanta) Infantry Regiment of the 19th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS on the Volkhov Front. In 1944 Lobe was awarded the rank of colonel and commander of the infantry of the entire Division, participating in fighting in the Opochka district and in Vidzeme. At the end of 1944 he was appointed as commander of Latvian construction battalion in Germany, but due to his Latvian nationalistic views was relieved of this command and placed before a German military tribunal. At the end of the war Lobe was interned in British zone of occupation for the period of a year.