After initially pushing back the Romanian 3rd Army, which fought under German command, the Soviet advance ground to a halt when the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler Brigade (LSSAH) arrived to reinforce their Axis allies.

After concluding the Battle of Kiev in September 1941, the German Army Group South advanced from the Dnieper to the Sea of Azov coast.

The city of Rostov was assigned as the objective for the 11th Army now commanded by General Eugen Ritter von Schobert, however he died in a crash the same day due to landing his liaison Fieseler Storch aircraft in a minefield.

This forced a halt to the Army's advance to safeguard its flank and obliged Von Manstein to use his only mobile reserve unit, the Leibstandarte Brigade, to shore up Romanian defences.

The 11th Army took up the pursuit, with the Leibstandarte's attack eliminating the Soviet 30th Rifle Division's HQ section and dispersing its subordinate formations.

However, the German lines were over-extended, and von Kleist's warnings that his left flank was vulnerable and that his tanks were ineffective in the freezing weather were ignored.

With air support from the Ju 87s of Sturzkampfgeschwader 77, Wilhelm List's Army Group A recaptured Rostov, the "gate to the Caucasus", on 23 July 1942 relatively easily.

[5] Further South along the coast, the remaining small ports and coastal areas still in Soviet hands were captured by Romanian Cavalry.

The campaign came to an end on 23 August, when the Romanians captured the port of Temryuk after bitter house-to-house fighting against Soviet naval infantry.