NATO Map Symbols a friendly front a hostile front A front () is a type of military formation that originates in the Russian Empire, and has been used by the Polish Army, the Red Army, the Soviet Army, and Turkey. It is roughly equivalent to an army group in the military of most other countries. It varies in size but in general contains three to five armies.FM 100-2-3, The Soviet Army: Troops, Organizations, and Equipment, June 1991 It should not be confused with the more general usage of military front, describing a geographic area in wartime.
Russian Empire After the outbreak of the First World War, the Russian General Headquarters set up two Fronts: Northwestern Front, uniting forces deployed against German Empire, and Southwestern Front, uniting forces deployed against Austria-Hungary.
In August 1915, Northwestern Front was split into Northern Front and Western Front.
At the end of 1916 Romanian Front was established, which also included remnants of the Romanian army.
In April 1917, Caucasus Front was established by the reorganization of the Caucasus Army.
Soviet fronts in the Russian Civil War The Soviet fronts were first raised during the Russian Civil War. They were wartime organizations only, in the peacetime the fronts were normally disbanded and their armies organized back into military districts. Usually a single district formed a single front at the start of the hostilities, or when hostilities were anticipated. Some military districts could not form a front. Fronts were also formed during the Polish-Soviet War of 1920.
The main fronts during the Russian Civil War and Polish-Soviet War were : Northern Front (15 September 1918 – 19 February 1919) Western Front (12 February 1919 – 8 April 1924) Southwestern Front (10 January 1920 – 5 December 1920) Southern Front (September 1918 – January 1920 and September – December 1920) Southeastern Front (30 September 1919 – 16 January 1920). Eastern Front (13 June 1918 – 15 January 1920) Turkestan Front (23 February 1919 – 4 June 1926) Ukrainian Front (January – June 1919) Caspian-Caucasian Front (8 December 1918 – 13 March 1919) Caucasian Front (16 January 1920 – 29 May 1921)
Soviet fronts in World War II Army groups differ from fronts in that a Soviet front typically had its own army-sized tactical fixed-wing aviation organization.Viktor Suvorov, Inside the Soviet Army: Fronts, Hamish Hamilton, 198x According to Soviet military doctrine, the air army was directly subordinated to the front commander (typically a ground commander). The reform of 1935 established that in case of a war the peacetime military districts on the border would split upon mobilisation each into a Front Command (taking control of the district's peacetime military formations) and a Military District Command (which stayed behind with the mission of mobilising the reserve formations and putting them at the disposal of the Fronts as replacement troops). In that sense the Air Armies were under Air Force command in peacetime, but under the command of the Front HQs in wartime; and the Fronts were commanded by ground-forces generals. An entire Front might report either to the Stavka or to a theatre of military operations (TVD). A Front was mobilised for a specific operation, after which it could be reformed and tasked with another operation (including a change of the Front's designation) or it could be disbanded - with its formations dispersed among the other active Fronts and its HQ reintegrated into its original Military District HQ.
Soviet and Russian military doctrine calls the different levels in the command chain (including the Fronts) "Organs of Military Control" (). +Organs of Military ControlLevelPeacetimePeacetime and wartimeFunctionExamplesHighest political controlMain Military Council ()Stavka of the Supreme Main Command ()
General StaffExercises supreme party control over the armed forces. It could best be considered as the office for military matters of the head of state. During World War I this was the Stavka of the Supreme Commander () aiding Tsar Nicholas II. During World War II this was the Stavka of the Supreme Main Command () aiding Joseph Stalin, who took precedence over it after the launch of the German invasion into the Soviet Union.Highest military controlGeneral Staff ()In wartime the General Staff became a department of the Stavka.StrategicalMain Command of the Troops of a Strategic Direction ()The Main Command of the Troops of a Strategic Direction were organised in wartime in 1941 – 42, each to take control over several Fronts, Fleets, Separate Armies and / or Flotillas.
In 1979 in the years of high confrontation between the countries of the Western liberal democracies and those of the Socialist Bloc the Main Commands of the Troops of a Strategic Directions were reinstated covertly:
Main Command of the Troops of the Western Direction () in Legnica (Poland) Main Command of the Troops of the South-Western Direction () in Chișinău Main Command of the Troops of the Southern Direction () in Baku and the Main Command of the Troops in the Far East () in Ulan-Ude.Main Command of the Troops of the North-Western Direction (). Existed between 10 July and 27 August 1941 under the command of Marshal of the Soviet Union Kliment Voroshilov. It commanded the:
Northern and Northwestern Fronts and the Northern and the Baltic Fleets.
Main Command of the Troops of the Western Direction
(). Existed between 10 July and 10 September 1941 under the command of Marshal of the Soviet Union Semyon Timoshenko. It commanded the:
Western, Central and Reserve Fronts and the Pinsk Flotilla.
Main Command of the Troops of the South-Western Direction
(). Existed between 10 July 1941 and 21 June 1942 under the command of initially Marshal of the Soviet Union Semyon Budyonny, since September 1941 of Marshal of the Soviet Union Semyon Timoshenko. It commanded the:
Southwestern, Southern (Sep.-Oct. 1041), Bryansk (Dec. 1941 – April 1942) Fronts and the Black Sea Fleet (until April 1942).
Main Command of the Troops of the North Caucasus Direction
(). Existed between 21 April and 19 May 1942 under the command of Marshal of the Soviet Union Semyon Budyonny. It commanded the:
Crimean Front, the Sevastopol Defence Area, North Caucasus Military District, the Black Sea Fleet and the Azov Flotilla.
Main Command of the Soviet Troops in the Far East
(). Existed between 30 July and 17 December 1945 under the command of Marshal of the Soviet Union Aleksandr Vasilevsky. It commanded the:
Transbaikal, Far Eastern (since 5 August the 2nd Far Eastern) Fronts, the Maritime Group of Forces (since 5 August the 1st Far Eastern front), the Pacific Fleet and the Amur Flotilla.Operational-StrategicalMilitary district ()FRONT ()The Military Districts were high military commands in charge of the combat readiness of troops, of training centers and schools, of support to the security services in cases of insurrections and of support to the population in case of disasters. Initially a distinction was made between border and internal () MDs. With a decree of the People's Commissariat for Defence dated 17 May 1935 the border districts were further divided between first-line and second-line () MDs. A provision was put in force, grouping a first-line district with two second-line districts, according to which in wartime the first-line MD would form a Frontal HQ and the rear districts would prepare replacements for it. This grouping was called a "Strategic Direction". Another decree of the PCD from 13 August 1940 introduced further changes in the war plans. The distinction between first- and second-line border districts was abolished. The 16 Military Districts were divided between 8 districts bordering potential enemy states, which would in case of a war form Frontal HQs and 8 internal MDs, which would form Separate Army commands. Operational-StrategicalNone in peacetimeSeparate Army ()OperationalArmy ()Operational-TacticalSeparate Corps ()Operational-TacticalCorpsCorps ()TacticalSeparate DivisionSeparate Division ()TacticalDivisionDivision ()Tactical(Separate) Brigade(Separate) Brigade () The degree of change in the structure and performance of individual fronts can only be understood when seen in the context of the strategic operations of the Red Army in World War II.
Soviet fronts in the European Theatre during the Second World War from 1941 to 1945: +Formed fromFRONT (time period)CommandersReformed into1941Baltic Special Military DistrictNorthwestern Front
(22.6.41. – 20.11.43.)Fyodor Kuznetsov, Pyotr Sobennikov,
Pavel Kurochkin,
Semyon Timoshenko, Ivan KonevdisbandedWestern Special Military DistrictWestern Front
(22.6.41. – 15.4.44.)Dmitry Pavlov, Andrey Yeryomenko,
Semyon Timoshenko,
Ivan Konev,
Georgy Zhukov,
Vasily Sokolovsky,
Ivan Chernyakhovsky3rd Belorussian FrontKiev Special Military DistrictSouthwestern Front (I) (21.6.41. – 12.7.42.)Mikhail Kirponos, Semyon Timoshenko,
Fyodor Kostenkosplit between the Southern Front and the Stalingrad FrontLeningrad Military DistrictNorthern Front
(24.6.41. – 26.8.41.)Markian Popovsplit between the Leningrad Front and the Karelian Frontmobilised peacetime formations of the Moscow Military DistrictSouthern Front (I) (25.6.41. – 28.7.41.)Ivan Tyulenev, Dmitry Ryabyshev,
Yakov Cherevichenko,
Rodion MalinovskyNorth Caucasian FrontNKVD troops transferred to the Army (the STAVKA Reserve Armies Group)Reserve Armies Front
(14.7.41. – 29.7.41.)Ivan Bogdanov (NKVD)split between the Western Front and the newly formed Reserve FrontMoscow Military DistrictMozhaysk Line of Defence Front
(18 – 30.7.41.)Pavel Artemyev (NKVD)Reserve FrontHeadquarters of the 4th Army & Right wing of Western Front Central Front (I)
(26.7.41. – 25.8.41.)Fyodor Kuznetsov, Mikhail Yefremovheavy casualties inflicted by the main German spearhead, disbanded, what was left of the Central Front was absorbed into the Bryansk Front (I)Reserve Armies FrontReserve Front (I)
(30.7.41. – 12.10.41.)Georgy Zhukov,
Semyon Budyonnymerged with the Western Front20th Rifle Corps and 25th Mechanized CorpsBryansk Front (I)
(16.8.41. – 10.11.41.)Andrey Yeryomenko, Mikhail Petrov,
Georgiy ZakharovdisbandedTranscaucasian Military District and Sevastopol Defensive AreaTranscaucasian Front (I)
(23.8.41. – 30.12.41.)Dmitry Timofeyevich KozlovCaucasian FrontNorthern FrontLeningrad Front
(27.8.41. – 24.7.45.)Markian Popov, Kliment Voroshilov,
Georgy Zhukov,
Ivan Fedyuninski ,
Mikhail Khozin,
Leonid GovorovLeningrad Military DistrictNorthern FrontKarelian Front
(1.9.41. – 15.11.44.)Valerian Frolov, Kirill Meretskovdisbanded after Finland exited the war, Front HQ used for the formation of the Primorsky Group of Forces that would become the 1st Far Eastern Front for the liberation of ManchuriaMozhaysk Line of Defence FrontMoscow Reserve Front (9.10.41. – 12.10.41.)Pavel Artemyev (NKVD)absorbed into the Western Front22, 29, 30 and 31st Armies of the Western FrontKalinin Front
(19.10.41. – 20.10.43.)Ivan Konev, Maksim Purkayev,
Andrey Yeryomenko1st Baltic Frontmobilised reserves of the Moscow Military DistrictMoscow Defence Zone
(3.12.41. – 1.10.43.)Pavel Artemyev (NKVD)after the German advance was stopped and the threat to Moscow was evaded, it became a training command for conscripts, its HQ was used to reestablish the Belorussian Military District in October 1943left flank of the Leningrad Front and STAVKA Reserve formationsVolkhov Front (I)
(17.12.41. – 23.4.42.)Kirill Meretskovreintegrated into the Leningrad Front as its Volkhov Direction Army GroupLt.-Gen. Kostenko's Task GroupBryansk Front (II)
(24.12.41. – 12.3.43.)Yakov Cherevichenko, Filipp Golikov,
Nikandr Chibisov,
Konstantin Rokossovsky,
Max ReyterReserve Front (II.)Transcaucasian FrontCaucasian Front
(30.12.41. – 28.1.42.)Dmitry Timofeyevich KozlovCrimean Front and Transcaucasian Military District1942Caucasian FrontCrimean Front