 He originally commanded the 37th Rifle Corps, before being reassigned to the command staff of the 6th Army in 1941.He fought around Kiev and later was taken prisoner by German Army forces near Uman.Meandrov joined Lieutenant General Andrey Vlasov, a Red Army defector, in the Russian Liberation Army (Русская освободительная армия, РОА; in Latin "ROA"), and was promoted to the rank of major general.