The Far Eastern Front ( Russian: Дальневосточный фронт) was a front — a level of

military formation Military organization ( AE) or military organisation ( BE) is the structuring of the armed forces of a state so as to offer such military capability as a national defense policy may require. Formal military organization tends to use hierarc ...

that is equivalent to

army group An army group is a military organization consisting of several field army, 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 organizatio ...

— of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Early war service

Тhe Far Eastern Front was created on June 28, 1938 from the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army within the Far East Military District. It included the 1st Red Banner Army and the 2nd Red Banner Army. In 1938 Front forces — seemingly the Soviet 32nd Rifle Division of 39th Rifle Corps — engaged Japanese

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially known as the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of Great Manchuria thereafter, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China that existed from 1932 until its dissolution in 1945. It was ostens ...

forces at the Battle of Lake Khasan. On the eve of the invasion of the Soviet Union by Germany, the Front comprised: * 1st Red Banner Army ** 26th Rifle Corps *** 21st Rifle Division *** 22nd Rifle Division *** 26th Rifle Division ** 59th Rifle Corps *** 39th Rifle Division *** 59th Rifle Division ** 1st, 4th, 5th Rifle Brigades ** 8th Cavalry Division ** One fortified region, artillery, engineers * 2nd Red Banner Army ** 3rd Rifle Division ** 12th Amurskaya Rifle Division ** 59th Tank Division ** 69th Mechanized Division ** One fortified region, artillery, engineers * 15th Army ** 18th Rifle Corps *** 34th Rifle Division *** 202nd Airborne Brigade ** One fortified region, artillery, engineers * 25th Army ** 39th Rifle Corps *** 32nd Rifle Division *** 40th Rifle Division *** 92nd Rifle Division ** Five fortified regions, artillery, and engineers * Special Rifle Corps ** 79th Rifle Division ** 101st Mountain Rifle Division * 35th Rifle Division * 66th Rifle Division * 78th Rifle Division * Three fortified regions, artillery, engineers

War against Japan

On August 5, 1945, the Front was divided and reorganized as the 1st Far Eastern Front and 2nd Far Eastern Front: 2nd Far Eastern Front, under General M. A. Purkayev (aimed at eastern

), including: * 2nd Red Banner Army. * 15th Army. * 16th Army. * 10th Air Army. 1st Far Eastern Front, under Marshal K. A. Meretskov (aimed at northern Manchukuo), including: * 1st Red Banner Army. * 5th Army. * 25th Army. * 35th Army * 9th Air Army * Chuguevsk Operational Group. * Amur River Flotilla. Transbaikal Front included the 12th Air Army. In the

Soviet invasion of Manchuria The Soviet invasion of Manchuria, formally known as the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation or simply the Manchurian Operation () and sometimes Operation August Storm, began on 9 August 1945 with the Soviet Union, Soviet invasion of the Emp ...

it led the attack into Japanese-occupied

Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...

. Although the

Kwantung Army The Kwantung Army (Japanese language, Japanese: 関東軍, ''Kantō-gun'') was a Armies of the Imperial Japanese Army, general army of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1919 to 1945. The Kwantung Army was formed in 1906 as a security force for th ...

of the

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

had more than 1 million soldiers, the

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese defenders were overwhelmed by the offensive. Allied forces of

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

and Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist China aided the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

operation. On August 19, the Far East Front continued its routing of the Kwantung Army by capturing

Harbin Harbin, ; zh, , s=哈尔滨, t=哈爾濱, p=Hā'ěrbīn; IPA: . is the capital of Heilongjiang, China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban area, urban population (after Shenyang, Lia ...

and Mukden. By August 21, the

had captured almost all of

, and the final surrender of the Kwantung Army took place. On August 11 to 12, 1945, the 87th Rifle Corps was brought out from the reserve of the 1st Far Eastern Front, and received new orders to prepare for landing operations on the island of Hokkaido (Japan); however, the planned operation never took place, although elements of the 87th Corps participated in other operations against Japanese forces in the theatre. On September 30, 1945, the Primorskiy (Maritime Provinces) Military District was formed on the territory of

Primorsky Krai Primorsky Krai, informally known as Primorye, is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a krais of Russia, krai) of Russia, part of the Far Eastern Federal District in the Russian Far East. The types of inhabited localities in Russia, ...

(territory of the former Ussuri Oblast), from HQ 1st Far East Front.

Commanders

Marshal of the Soviet Union Marshal of the Soviet Union (, ) was the second-highest military rank of the Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin wore the uniform and insignia of Marshal after World War II. The rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union was created in 1935 and abolished in ...

Vasily K. Blukher (1 July – 4 September, 1938) * Komkor Grigori M. Shtern (August 1938; July 1940 – January 1941) *

Colonel General Colonel general is a military rank used in some armies. It is particularly associated with Germany, where historically General officer#Old European system, general officer ranks were one grade lower than in the Commonwealth and the United States, ...

Iosif R. Apanasenko romoted to Army General in February 1941(January 1941 – April 1943) * Colonel General Maxim A. Purkaev romoted to Army General in October 1944(April 1943 – August 1945)

Notes

External links

* David Glantz, ''Stumbling Colossus'', University Press of Kansas, 1998 (for 1941 order of battle) {{Fronts of the Red Army in World War II Far East Front Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 History of the Russian Far East de:1. Fernostfront