After two years in command, he was appointed on November 1, 1937, as Deputy Chief of the General Staff, fulfilling this position during the term of Major General Ștefan Ionescu. From May to December 1939 he served as director of the National Military Circle. On February 27, 1939, shortly after the replacement on February 1, 1939, of General Ionescu with General Țenescu as Chief of the General Staff, Sănătescu passed to the command of the 3rd Cavalry Division, being promoted on October 25, 1939, to the rank of major general. He then held the positions of commander of the 8th Army Corps, commander of the Cavalry Corps, commander of the Military Command of the Capital during the Legionnaires' rebellion, and commander of the 4th Army Corps (1941–1943). As commander of the 8th Army Corps, it was General Sănătescu who stopped the Pogrom from Dorohoi against the Jews launched in 1940.