In 1938 Kreß was appointed to command the 1st Mountain Division's 99th Regiment. He led the regiment until 1943, receiving the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross in December 1941 while serving on the Eastern Front. After heavy losses to the 1st Mountain Division, he was given command of the 4th Mountain Division which he led as part of the XXXXIX Mountain Corps in the Battle of the Caucasus. Kreß was killed by a Soviet sniper on 11 August 1943, near Novorossiysk on the Kuban bridgehead.