 In 1938, "RWE" broke into top-flight football in the Gauliga Niederrhein, one of sixteen premier divisions formed in the 1933 re-organization of German football under the Third Reich, and came within a point of taking the division title in 1941.In 1943 they played with "BV Altenessen" as the combined wartime side "KSG SC Rot-Weiß Essen/BV 06 Altenessen".The next season this club was in turn joined by "BVB Essen", but played only a single match in a stillborn season as World War II overtook the country.