In June 1941, the XXXXI Panzer Corps was deployed on the Eastern Front for Operation Barbarossa,[2] the invasion of the Soviet Union.

The XXXXI Panzer Corps fought at Bely, in the anti-partisan operations at Nikitinka, Yartsevo, Vyazma, and Dukhovshchina.

In June / July 1944 the corps was almost destroyed during the Soviet summer offensive, Operation Bagration, and required complete rebuilding.

After a week of heavy fighting, its divisions were encircled in the Heiligenbeil pocket on the Baltic coast, where they were destroyed in March.

The corps headquarters were evacuated by sea to northern Germany and were placed under the 12th Army under General Walther Wenck.