With the beginning of the Stalingrad Strategic Defensive Operation, its advanced troops fought hard battles with the vanguards of the 6th German Army on the Tsimle River.

The 64th Army repelled the offensive of the southern strike group of the enemy around Surovikino, Rychkovo and further on the left bank of the Don.

After the breakthrough of the defense of the South-Eastern Front at the junction of the 62nd and 64th armies and the withdrawal of its troops to the Volga in the area of Kuporosnoy, the main forces of the army defended the area south and southwest of Stalingrad, from where they systematically launched counterattacks on the flank of the enemy group who tried to take over the city.

During the transition to the counter-offensive, the army was a part of the main strike group of the Stalingrad front and subsequently fought in the enemy's encirclement.

On January 1, 1943, as part of the Don Front, it participated in the liquidation of the encircled German troops in Stalingrad.