The 3rd SS Division Totenkopf remained in France until April 1941 when it was transferred east to prepare for Operation Barbarossa.

In January 1942 3rd SS Division Totenkopf was formally transferred to the German Second Army Corps and during the Soviet winter offensive there was a particularly savage battle at Demyansk.

On 21 October 1942 Bochmann was appointed commander of the 2nd Motorised Battalion of the Regiment "Thule" (within the 3rd SS Division Totenkopf).

Bochmann actually only returned to combat on 2 January 1945 when he was appointed commander of the 18th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Horst Wessel.

After a brief stint fighting in the west, the division was moved to the eastern front, where it was decimated and quickly surrounded by the Red Army in Oberglogau, Silesia.

[1] With only a few weeks of the war left, Bochmann was appointed commander of the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen.

After retreating through Bavaria he refused suicidal orders from Generalfeldmarschall Ferdinand Schörner to attack Allied troops, was dismissed from his post and plans were started to court martial him.