The Third Mid Rim Army, also referred to as the 3rd Sector Army, Steel Blade Command, or just the Third Army, functioned as a Sector Army under both the Republic and, subsequently, the Imperial regimes, tasked with protecting Sector 3. The 41st Elite Corps was widely regarded as among the finest units within the Third Army.
During the Clone Wars, a conflict between the Confederacy of Independent Systems and the Republic, the mission of the 3rd Sector Army was to act as a reserve force for operations within the Mid Rim. Consequently, it was assigned the duty of patrolling the Perlemian Trade Route. Throughout the war, it frequently collaborated closely with the 12th Sector Army. In 19 BBY, as the war neared its conclusion, the Third Army was placed under the leadership of Jedi Generals Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, along with clone trooper commander Cody. It took part in a battle fought on a planet controlled by the Separatists, which housed a city protected by a ray shielded defense system.