On 9 April 1940, on board the German cruiser Blücher, he led the staff of the forces designated to occupy Oslo during the invasion of Norway.

Along with hundreds of other survivors, Engelbrecht was detained by Norwegian guardsmen at a farm near Drøbak for several hours before being abandoned by their captors.

XXXIII in Trondheim on 15 June 1942, at the same time commander of Central Norway and was promoted to general of the artillery on 1 September 1942.

On 25 December 1943 he was forced to hand over his command to Lieutenant General Ludwig Wolff and was transferred to the Army's Führer Reserve.

It was not until 13 September 1944 that he was re-called as leader of the newly formed Higher Command of Saarpfalz, which, however, included only fortification and construction troops.