In World War II he attained the rank of General of the Infantry on 1 September 1944, and became the Chief of the Personnel Department of the German Army.

[citation needed] Throughout the war, Schmundt was one of Adolf Hitler's many adjutants,[1] and flew with Erwin Rommel in early 1941, just before the Afrika Korps was created.

Severely injured in the assassination attempt, losing his left eye and suffering shrapnel wounds to both legs, Schmundt initially made a promising recovery, but ultimately died of complications resulting from his injuries on 1 October 1944 at the Carlshof hospital.

[3][additional citation(s) needed] After Schmundt's death, all current Generals and Field Marshals were summoned by Hitler to attend a funeral service at the Tannenberg Memorial, in east Prussia.

As reported by Hauptmann Alexander Stahlberg (aide to Field Marshal Von Manstein) in his book Bounden Duty, the group were entrained back to Berlin and Schmundt was buried, on Hitler's orders, in Invalids' Cemetery.