It fought as part of the German Army Group B during World War II, in Ukraine, the Crimea, and the Caucasus.

In fact the 3rd Army command did not have any operative attributes until 2 July 1941, when the ground offensive started also in the Romanian sector.

The Romanian Third Army, commanded by General Petre Dumitrescu, was transferred from the Caucasus and replaced five Italian and two German divisions between Blij Perekopa and Bokovkaya, with the task of defending a front 138 km (86 mi) long, far beyond its capabilities.

To make things worse, the Soviets had two bridgeheads over the Don River, at Serafimovich and Kletskaya, which the German High Command ignored, despite repeated requests by General Dumitrescu for permission to eliminate them.

On 19 November at 0530, in the sector of the Third Romanian Army, a violent artillery barrage battered the entire front line.

The 37mm and 47mm AT guns were useless against Soviet T-34 tanks, so the Romanian troops had to use grenades, anti-tank mines and Molotov cocktails.

On 20 November, the Soviet armored and motorized forces advanced towards Kalach, with the intention of encircling the 6th Army embroiled in ferocious fighting at Stalingrad.

The Romanian 1st Armored Division, without any available radio contact, tried to advance to Petshany in order to make the junction with the 22nd Panzer Division, but was forced to stop a few kilometers west of Korotovsky by stiff Soviet resistance and numerous counterattacks by Soviet tanks, flowing between the German 22nd and the Romanian 1st, occupying the Varlamovsky and Peralasovsky villages and making the junction with forces coming from Gromsky, thus encircling the 5th Corps.

Donschynka, where it was hoping to find the German division, but the village was under Soviet control and then headed south and, after grim fighting, crossed the Chir River on 25 November.

On 22 November, the encircled "General Lascăr" Group, which had been ordered to resist at any cost, was attacked and transmitted its last message.

His battalion had managed to prevent the Soviet 8th Cavalry Division from capturing the vital German airfield at Oblivskaya from 26 November to 3 December.