The Don Front was a
front of 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 ...
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 ...
, which existed between September 1942 and February 1943, and was commanded during its entire existence by
Konstantin Rokossovsky. The name refers to
Don River, Russia
The Don () is the fifth-longest river in Europe. Flowing from Central Russia to the Sea of Azov in Southern Russia, it is one of Russia's largest rivers and played an important role for traders from the Byzantine Empire.
Its basin is betwee ...
.
Formation
The front was created by order of the ''STAVKA'' of the Supreme High Command on Sept. 28, 1942 in order to form a more cohesive command structure to the much-reinforced Soviet forces fighting in and around
Stalingrad
Volgograd,. geographical renaming, formerly Tsaritsyn. (1589–1925) and Stalingrad. (1925–1961), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. The city lies on the western bank of the Volga, covering an area o ...
. On that date the ''STAVKA'' ordered:
The initial composition of the Don Front was as follows:
*
1st Guards Army -
Kirill Moskalenko,
*
21st Army -
Nikolay Krylov,
*
24th Army -
Dmitry Timofeyevich Kozlov,
*
63rd Army -
Vasily Kuznetsov,
*
66th Army -
Rodion Malinovsky
Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky (; ; – 31 March 1967) was a Soviet military commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union. He served as Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union from 1957 to 1967, during which he oversaw the strengthening of the Sov ...
,
*
4th Tank Army -
Vasily Kryuchenkin,
*
16th Air Army
The 16th Red Banner Air Army () was the most important formation of the Special Purpose Command. Initially formed during the Second World War as a part of the Soviet Air Force, it was from its 2002 reformation to its 2009 disbandment the tactical ...
-
Sergei Rudenko.
The command cadre of the new front came almost entirely from Rokossovsky's
Bryansk Front, leaders that he trusted and would follow him until he was ordered to take command of
2nd Belorussian Front
The 2nd Belorussian Front (, ''Vtoroi Belorusskiy front'', also romanized "Byelorussian SSR, Byelorussian"), was a Front (military formation), major formation of the Soviet Army during World War II, being equivalent to a Western army group.
I ...
in late 1944.
[Dr. Boris Sokolov, ''Marshal K.K. Rokossovsky''. Helloin & Company, Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2015, pp 188-89]
On the basis of the STAVKA directive of February 5, 1943, the Don Front was transformed into the
Central Front on February 15, 1943.
References
{{Fronts of the Red Army in World War II
Eastern Front (World War II)
Soviet fronts