Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - Kempf ya shiga rundunar sojojin Jamus a 1905; bayan yakin duniya na, ya yi aiki a cikin "Reichswehr" kuma daga baya "Wehrmacht". A watan Oktoba na 1937 Kempf ya dauki umurnin sabuwar kungiyar 4th Panzer Brigade; a watan Janairun 1939 an daukaka shi zuwa "Janar Janar". A farkon Yaƙin Duniya na II a Turai, ya shiga cikin mamayewar Poland a matsayin kwamandan Panzer Division Kempf, wanda kuma aka sani da "Panzerverband Ostpreußen" (Panzer Group East Prussia) na rundunar soja ta 3 a karkashin Georg von Küchler. A matsayinsa na kwamandan runduna, ya karbi mika wuya na Fort Zakroczym, wanda aka biyo baya da Kashewa a Zakroczym, a karshen yakin Modlin
Ka yi haƙuri. Rukunin ya koma Gabashin Prussia a karshen yakin Poland, kuma an nada Kempf a matsayin kwamandan rundunar 1st Light Division, wanda aka sake masa suna na 6th Panzer Division, a ranar 18 ga Oktoba, 1939.