A front (russian: фронт, ''front'') is a type of
military formation that originated in the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...
, and has been used by the
Polish Army, the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...
, the
Soviet Army
uk, Радянська армія
, image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg
, alt =
, caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army
, start_date ...
, and
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...
. It is roughly equivalent to an
army group
An army group is a military organization consisting of several field armies, which is self-sufficient for indefinite periods. It is usually responsible for a particular geographic area. An army group is the largest field organization handled ...
in the military of most other countries. It varies in size but in general contains three to five
armies. It should not be confused with the more general usage of ''
military front
In a military context, the term front can have several meanings. According to official US Department of Defense and NATO definitions, a front can be "the line of contact of two opposing forces."Leonard, B. (2011). Department of Defense Diction ...
,'' describing a geographic area in wartime.
Russian Empire
After the outbreak of the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, the
Russian General Headquarters
Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...
set up two Fronts:
Northwestern Front, uniting forces deployed against
German Empire
The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...
, and
Southwestern Front, uniting forces deployed against
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
.
In August 1915, Northwestern Front was split into
Northern Front and
Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to:
Military frontiers
* Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany
*Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany
*Western Front (Russian Empire), a maj ...
.
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
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Russian Civil War
, partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I
, image =
, caption = Clockwise from top left:
{{flatlist,
*Soldiers ...
. 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 Western Front or West Front may refer to:
Military frontiers
* Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany
*Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany
*Western Front (Russian Empire), a maj ...
(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 The Turkestan Front () was a front of the Red Army during the Russian Civil War, which was formed on the territory of Turkestan Military District by Order of the Republic of Turkestan on February 23, 1919. It was formed a second time by the directiv ...
(23 February 1919 – 4 June 1926)
*
Ukrainian Front (January – June 1919)
*
Caspian-Caucasian Front The Caspian-Caucasian Front () was a front of the Red Army during the Russian Civil War, formed on 8 December 1918 as a branch of the Southern Front. The Front was disbanded on 13 March 1919 and the troops transferred to form a separate 11th Army.
...
(8 December 1918 – 13 March 1919)
*
Caucasian Front (16 January 1920 – 29 May 1921)
Soviet fronts in World War II
Army group
An army group is a military organization consisting of several field armies, which is self-sufficient for indefinite periods. It is usually responsible for a particular geographic area. An army group is the largest field organization handled ...
s differ from fronts in that a
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
front typically had its own army-sized tactical fixed-wing air organization. According to Soviet military doctrine, the
air army was directly subordinated to the front commander (typically a ground commander). With the reform of 1935, it was 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 to mobilise the reserve formations and put 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 Frontal HQs in wartime and the Fronts were commanded by Ground Forces generals. The entire front might report either to the
Stavka
The ''Stavka'' (Russian and Ukrainian: Ставка) is a name of the high command of the armed forces formerly in the Russian Empire, Soviet Union and currently in Ukraine.
In Imperial Russia ''Stavka'' referred to the administrative staff ...
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.
The Soviet and Russian military doctrine calls the different levels in the command chain (including the Fronts) Organs of Military Control (').
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
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
from 1941 to 1945:
*
*Baltic Fronts
**
1st Baltic Front: Formed from Kalinin Front late 1943.
**
2nd Baltic Front: Formed from
Bryansk Front on 10 October 1943.
**
3rd Baltic Front
The 3rd Baltic Front (russian: 3-й Прибалтийский фронт) was a front of the Red Army during the Second World War. It was set up on 21 April 1944 and disbanded on 16 October that year after a series of campaigns in the Baltic sta ...
*
Bryansk Front – Created 18 December 1941, to take sector between the Western and Southwestern Fronts. Disbanded 11/12 March 1943. Reformed from Orel Front 28 March 1943.
*Belorussian Fronts (alternative spellings are ''
Byelorussian Front'' and ''
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
ian Front'')
**
1st Belorussian Front
**
2nd Belorussian Front
**
3rd Belorussian Front
*
Caucasus Front
*
Central Front
The Central Front was a major formation of the Red Army during the Second World War formed on July 24, 1941.
The Central Front describes either of two distinct organizations during the war.
The first entity existed for just a month during th ...
*
Crimean Front – formed January 1942 to reconquer the Crimea, incorporating 44th, 47th, and
51st Armies
*
Don Front
*
Far East Front
**
1st Far East Front
**
2nd Far East Front
*
Kalinin Front – the Kalinin Front was formally established by
Stavka
The ''Stavka'' (Russian and Ukrainian: Ставка) is a name of the high command of the armed forces formerly in the Russian Empire, Soviet Union and currently in Ukraine.
In Imperial Russia ''Stavka'' referred to the administrative staff ...
directive on 17 October 1941, and allocated three armies – 22nd, 29th and 30th. Renamed 1st Baltic Front Oct–Dec 1943.
*
Karelian Front – formed from Northern Front, along with Leningrad Front, on 23 August 1941.
*
Kursk Front
*
Leningrad Front – formed from Northern Front, along with Karelian Front, on 23 August 1941.
*
Moscow Defence Zone
The Moscow Defence Zone was a front of the Red Army during World War II, to defend Moscow from the German advance. It was set up on 2 December 1941 to manage the troops of 24th and 60th Armies and part of the anti-aircraft defences.
Histo ...
*
Moscow Reserve Front
The Moscow Reserve Front was a front of the Red Army during the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority ...
*
Mozhaysk Line of Defense
MozhayskAlternative transliterations include ''Mozhaisk'', ''Mozhajsk'', ''Mozhaĭsk'', and ''Možajsk''. ( rus, Можа́йск, p=mɐˈʐajsk) is a town and the administrative center of Mozhaysky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located to th ...
*
North Caucasus Front – redesignated TC Front's Black Sea Group of Forces, 1 September 1942
*
Northern Front – formed from
Leningrad Military District
The Leningrad Military District was a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In 2010 it was merged with the Moscow Military District, the Northern Fleet and the Baltic Fleet to form the new Western Military District ...
on 24 June 1941
*
Northwestern Front – formed from Baltic Special Military District on 22 June 1941
*
Orel Front – created 24 March 1943 to defend opposite the tip of the German salient east of
Orel. Composed of Western Front's 61st Army, Central Front's 3rd Army, and 15th Air Army. Redesignated
Bryansk Front 28 March 1943.
*
Army Group of Primorye
*
Reserve Front – Front of Reserve Armies formed 14 July 1941
*
Southeastern Front – formed from armies on Stalingrad Front's left wing, 7 August 1942. Redesignated Stalingrad Front 28 September 1942.
*
Southern Front – renamed 4th Ukrainian Front 20 October 1943.
*
Southwestern Front – Formed initially on 22 June 1941. Reestablished 22 October 1942 between Don and Voronezh Fronts. Renamed 3rd Ukrainian Front 20 October 1943.
*
Stalingrad Front – Along with Voronezh Front, formed from remnants of Southwestern Front July 1942. Became Don Front 28 September 1942.
*
Steppe Front
The Steppe Front (russian: Степной фронт) was a front of the Red Army during the Second World War which existed from July to October 1943.
History
On 9 July 1943, Stavka designated a new Reserve Front in the Voronezh region, that ha ...
– renamed 2nd Ukrainian Front 20 October 1943.
*
Transbaikal Front
*
Transcaucasian Front – formed 23 August 1941
*Ukrainian Fronts
**
1st Ukrainian Front
The 1st Ukrainian Front (Russian: Пéрвый Украи́нский фронт), previously the Voronezh Front (Russian: Воронежский Фронт) was a major formation of the Soviet Army during World War II, being equivalent to a ...
**
2nd Ukrainian Front
**
3rd Ukrainian Front
**
4th Ukrainian Front
*
Volkhov Front
The Volkhov Front (russian: Волховский фронт) was a major formation of the Red Army during the first period of the Second World War. It was formed as an expediency of an early attempt to halt the advance of the Wehrmacht Army Group ...
– formed 17 December 1941
*
Voronezh Front
The 1st Ukrainian Front ( Russian: Пéрвый Украи́нский фронт), previously the Voronezh Front ( Russian: Воронежский Фронт) was a major formation of the Soviet Army during World War II, being equivalent to ...
– renamed 1st Ukrainian Front 20 October 1943.
*
Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to:
Military frontiers
* Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany
*Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany
*Western Front (Russian Empire), a maj ...
– formed from Western Special Military District on 22 June 1941
For constituent armies see
List of Soviet armies.
Soviet fronts after World War II
The Soviet Army maintained contingencies for establishing fronts in the event of war. During the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...
, fronts and their staffs became
groups of Soviet forces in the
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republi ...
organization. The front was to be the highest operational command during wartime. Though there was no front ever established during peacetime the basic building blocks were maintained the established Military Districts. A front generally comprised 3–4 Combined Arms Armies and 1–2 Tank Armies though there was no set organization.
[US Army FM 100-2-3 The Soviet Army: Troops, Organization, and Equipment]
Poland
A number of fronts were created by the
Second Polish Republic from 1918 to 1939, among them being the
Polish Southern Front The Southern Front (Polish ''Front Południowy'') was one of two fronts of the Polish Army created during the Invasion of Poland of 1939 against the allied forces of Nazi Germany and Soviet Union. It was established on September 12 out of the Polish ...
. See
:pl:Kategoria:Fronty polskie. In addition, the creation of a Polish Front was considered to group the First and Second Armies of the
Polish Armed Forces in the East in 1944, and during the Warsaw Pact period, a Polish Front was created, seemingly as a mobilization-only organization.
Citations and notes
References
*
John Erickson John Erickson may refer to:
* John E. Erickson (Montana politician) (1863–1946), American politician from Montana
* John E. Erickson (basketball) (1927–2020), American basketball coach and executive, Wisconsin politician
* John P. Erickson (1 ...
, The Road to Stalingrad: Stalin's War with Germany, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1975
*
David Glantz
David M. Glantz (born January 11, 1942) is an American military historian known for his books on the Red Army during World War II and as the chief editor of '' The Journal of Slavic Military Studies''.
Born in Port Chester, New York, Glantz re ...
, Colossus Reborn: The Red Army at War 1941–43, University Press of Kansas, 2005
{{Authority control
Military units and formations by size
*