The Transbaikal Front (russian: Забайкальский фронт) was a front formed on September 15, 1941, on the basis of the Transbaikal Military District. Initially, it included the

17th 17 (seventeen) is the natural number following 16 and preceding 18. It is a prime number. Seventeen is the sum of the first four prime numbers. In mathematics 17 is the seventh prime number, which makes seventeen the fourth super-prime, as s ...

and 36th armies, but in August 1942 the

12th Air Army 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

was added to the front, and, finally, in June–July 1945 the 39th and the 53rd armies, the 6th Guards Tank Army, and the Soviet Mongolian Cavalry Mechanized Group under Issa Pliyev. From September 1941 to January 1945, the Transbaikal Front sent to the Soviet fronts in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

about 300,000 personnel, 1,440 tanks, and 2,230 guns. On November 1, 1941, the Front included the 17th Army with the 36th and 57th Motor Rifle Divisions and the 61st Tank Division, and four air divisions (two fighter, one bomber, and the 84th Mixed Aviation Division), the 36th Army with the 94th Rifle Division, the

210th Rifle Division The 210th Rifle Division was formed as an infantry division of the Red Army after a motorized division of that same number was badly damaged and then redesignated as a cavalry division in the first weeks of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. ...

, the 51st Cavalry Division, and the 31st and 32nd Fortified Regions, the 111th Tank Division, two independent tank battalions, and the 89th Assault Aviation Division. Front troops included the

209th Rifle Division The 209th Rifle Division was formed as an infantry division of the Red Army after a motorized division of that same number was destroyed in the first weeks of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. It served through nearly the remainder of the wa ...

. On May 1, 1945, the Front included the 17th Army with the 85th Rifle Corps (36th and 57th Motor Rifle Divisions), the

284th Rifle Division The 284th Rifle Division began service as a standard Red Army rifle division shortly after the German invasion. Moved to the front soon after, it helped defend the Soviet lines west of the Ukrainian capital for more than a month, but was then destr ...

, another rifle unit, significant numbers of artillery units, the 61st Tank Division, the 36th Army with the 86th Rifle Corps ( 94th and 298th Rifle Divisions), the 209th, 210th, 278th Rifle Divisions, and 31st Fortified Region, and the

2nd Rifle Corps The 2nd Rifle Corps was an infantry corps of the Red Army during the interwar period and World War II, formed twice. First formation It was formed in September 1922 as the 2nd Army Corps in accordance with orders dated 10 June, 18 July, and 12 ...

( 103rd, 275th, 292nd Rifle Divisions) plus at front level the

293rd Rifle Division The 293rd Rifle Division began service as a standard Red Army rifle division shortly after the German invasion. It served in the defense of Kiev, and managed to escape encirclement, spending the winter along the front near Kursk. It fought in the ...

, 59th Cavalry Division, and other units.

Soviet invasion of Manchuria

The armies and corps of the front under

Rodion Malinovsky Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky (russian: Родио́н Я́ковлевич Малино́вский, ukr, Родіо́н Я́кович Малино́вський ; – 31 March 1967) was a Soviet military commander. He was Marshal of the Sovi ...

participated in the

Soviet invasion of Manchuria The Soviet invasion of Manchuria, formally known as the Manchurian strategic offensive operation (russian: Манчжурская стратегическая наступательная операция, Manchzhurskaya Strategicheskaya Nastu ...

during August 1945 defeating the

Kwantung Army ''Kantō-gun'' , image = Kwantung Army Headquarters.JPG , image_size = 300px , caption = Kwantung Army headquarters in Hsinking, Manchukuo , dates = Apri ...

of the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor ...

. The fighting had lasted for only about a week when Japan's Emperor

Hirohito Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...

read the Gyokuon-hōsō on August 15 and declared a ceasefire in the region on August 16. Soviet forces were already penetrating deep into Manchukuo by that time. They continued their largely unopposed advance into Manchukuo's territory, reaching

Mukden Shenyang (, ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly known as Fengtian () or by its Manchu name Mukden, is a major Chinese sub-provincial city and the provincial capital of Liaoning province. Located in central-north Liaoning, it is the prov ...

, Changchun, and

Qiqihar Qiqihar () is the second-largest city in the Heilongjiang province of China, in the west central part of the province. The built-up (or metro) area made up of Longsha, Tiefeng and Jianhua districts had 959,787 inhabitants, while the total popula ...

by August 20. At the same time, Mengjiang was invaded by the Red Army and its Mongol allies, with Guihua quickly taken. The Emperor of Manchukuo (and the former Emperor of China), Puyi, was captured by the Soviet Red Army and sent to Chita. After the operation on October 9, 1945, the Transbaikal Front was disbanded and reorganized into the Transbaikal-Amur Military District.

Commander-in-chiefs of the front

* Mikhail Kovalyov (July 1941 – July 1945) *

(July–October 1945)

References

{{Fronts of the Red Army in World War II Soviet fronts Military units and formations disestablished in 1945