Officially formed on 25 September 1941 in France the division was initially equipped with obsolete Czech, French and German tanks.

[3] In May 1942, the division was sent north to the Kharkov area and then took part in the 1942 summer offensive against Soviet forces in the Don River bend leading to the Battle of Stalingrad.

Many of the division's tanks had been parked in dugouts for an extended period of time and protected from the frost by straw.

After desperate fighting around the Russian town of Petshany on 19–22 November 1942, the 22nd was virtually destroyed with survivors making their way southwest to and across the river Chir to join various ad hoc Kampfgruppen.

For its part, the Romanian 1st Armored Division lost 60% of its combat strength and crossed the Chir River with only nineteen of its original eighty four serviceable R-2s.