In the beginning of autumn 1940, Lieutenant Kurobe and his unit moved to Guangdong in South China in order to support the Japanese invasion of French Indochina. Following that, he moved to Weizhou Island in Gulf of Tonkin to cover the evacuation of South Guangxi. After the successful evacuation he again returned to Hankow in Central China where he remained until January 1941, before he was transferred to the Army Academy to serve as an instructor.