In June 1941, it participated in Operation Barbarossa, where as part of the First Panzer Group, it served with Army Group South on the southern sector of the eastern front, advancing via Lvov, Tarnopol and Zhitomir to Kremenchug and in the Mius sector. It took part in Fall Blau where it commanded the 60th Motorized Infantry Division, 16th Panzer Division and the 3rd Motorized Infantry Division. Elements of the Corps were the first German units to reach Stalingrad.