The Northern Front () was a

front Front may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Front'' (1943 film), a 1943 Soviet drama film * '' The Front'', 1976 film Music * The Front (band), an American rock band signed to Columbia Records and active in the 1980s and ...

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 ...

. The Northern Front was created on June 24, 1941 from the

Leningrad Military District The Order of Lenin Leningrad Military District () is a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The district was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1968. In 2010, it was merged with the Moscow Military District, the Northern ...

. Its primary goal was the defense of the

Kola Peninsula The Kola Peninsula (; ) is a peninsula in the extreme northwest of Russia, and one of the largest peninsulas of Europe. Constituting the bulk of the territory of Murmansk Oblast, it lies almost completely inside the Arctic Circle and is border ...

and the northern shores of the

Gulf of Finland The Gulf of Finland (; ; ; ) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and Estonia to the south, to Saint Petersburg—the second largest city of Russia—to the east, where the river Neva drains into it. ...

. On August 23, 1941, the Front's forces were divided into the

Karelian Front The Karelian Front ) was a front (a formation of Army Group size) of the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II, and operated in Karelia. Wartime The Karelian Front was created in August 1941 when Northern Front was split into Karelian ...

and the

Leningrad Front The Leningrad Front () was formed during the 1941 German approach on Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) by dividing the Northern Front into the Leningrad Front and Karelian Front on August 27, 1941. History The Leningrad Front was immediately ...

. Lieutenant General Markian M. Popov commanded the Front for the three months of its existence. The Front's major force structure was based on the 7th Army, 14th Army, 23rd Armies and the Leningrad People's Opolcheniye Army. Other forces included four Rifle Corps, two Mechanized Corps, seventeen Rifle Divisions, four Tank Divisions, two Motor Rifle Divisions, eight artillery regiments of the Reserve of Highest Command, eight Aviation Divisions (including one objective air division), seven

Fortified Region A fortified district or fortified region (, ukreplyonny raion, ukrepraion) in the military terminology of the Soviet Union, is a territory within which a complex system of defense fortifications was engineered. Each fortified district consiste ...

s, one Fortified Position, and thirteen machinegun battalions.
ЗАПИСКА ПО ПРИКРЫТИЮ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЙ ГРАНИЦЫ НА ТЕРРИТОРИИ ЛЕНИНГРАДСКОГО ВОЕННОГО ОКРУГА Soviet Northern 22 JUNE 1941

The formations of the Northern Front included the following subunits:

14th Army

* 14th Army (HQ in

Murmansk Murmansk () is a port city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast in the far Far North (Russia), northwest part of Russia. It is the world's largest city north of the Arctic Circle and sits on both slopes and banks of a modest fjord, Ko ...

) with its commander, General Lieutenant

Valerian Frolov Valerian Aleksandrovich Frolov (; June 7 ( O.S. May 26), 1895 – 1961) was a Soviet Colonel General (1943). Frolov participated in the First World War and the Russian Civil War. From June 1937 he was commander of the 16th Infantry Division. Fro ...

, responsible for the Defence Sector No.1 which extended from the coast of the

Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; , ; ) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territorial waters.World Wildlife Fund, 2008. It was known earlier among Russi ...

to include the entire

and in particular the Murmansk to

Kandalaksha Kandalaksha () is a town in Kandalakshsky District of Murmansk Oblast, Russia, located at the head of Kandalaksha Gulf on the White Sea, north of the Arctic Circle. Population: 40,564 ( 2002 Census); Etymology According to the most common ...

railway. : 14th Rifle Division defending the

Petsamo Petsamo may refer to: * Petsamo Province, a province of Finland from 1921 to 1922 * Petsamo, Tampere, a district in Tampere, Finland * Pechengsky District Pechengsky District (; ; ; ; ) is an administrative district (raion), one of the six in Mur ...

sector :

42nd Rifle Corps The 42nd Rifle Corps was a corps of the Soviet Red Army. It was part of the 14th Army. It took part in the Great Patriotic War. Its initial commander was Major General Roman Ivanovich Panin. The corps was disbanded on 14 October 1941. The Cor ...

:: 104th Rifle Division :: 122nd Rifle Division :

52nd Rifle Division The 52nd Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army during the Russian Civil War, the interwar period, World War II, and the Cold War, formed once during the Russian Civil War and three times during the existence of the Soviet Union. ...

: 1st Tank Division :104 Gun Artillery Regiment of the Reserve of Highest Command :

23rd Murmansk Fortified Region Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (dis ...

() :35th, 100th, 82nd, 72nd and 101st Border Guard Detachments :

1st Mixed Air Division First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

Northern Fleet The Northern Fleet (, ''Severnyy flot'') is the Naval fleet, fleet of the Russian Navy in the Arctic. According to the Russian ministry of defence: "The Northern Fleet dates its history back to a squadron created in 1733 to protect the terri ...

commanded by Admiral Arseniy Golovko (based at Polyarny) and its

coast defence Coastal management is defence against flooding and erosion, and techniques that stop erosion to claim lands. Protection against rising sea levels in the 21st century is crucial, as sea level rise accelerates due to climate change. Changes in s ...

and

naval aviation Naval aviation / Aeronaval is the application of Military aviation, military air power by Navy, navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases. It often involves ''navalised aircraft'', specifically designed for naval use. Seab ...

units.

7th Army

* Separate 7th Army (HQ in

Suoyarvi Suoyarvi (; ; ) is a town and the administrative center of Suoyarvsky District of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located northwest of Petrozavodsk. Population: History It is known that during the 16th and 17th centuries a settlement exist ...

) with its commander Lieutenant General Filip D. Gorelenko responsible for the Defence Sector No.2 covering the longest sector of the Front between the Kola Peninsula and

Lake Ladoga Lake Ladoga is a freshwater lake located in the Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia, in the vicinity of Saint Petersburg. It is the largest lake located entirely in Europe, the second largest lake in Russia after Lake ...

, and in particular having the responsibility at once for the gap between the Ladoga and Onega lakes, and the possible land assault to cut off

Arkhangelsk Arkhangelsk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina near its mouth into the White Sea. The city spreads for over along the ...

. In fact the Stavka had determined the Army had four sectors in its responsibility. :

54th Rifle Division The 54th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army and Soviet Army, formed twice. The division was formed in 1936 and fought in the Winter War. The division spent most of World War II in Karelia fighting with Finnish t ...

: 71st Rifle Division : 168th Rifle Division : 237th Rifle Division :541 Howitzer Artillery Regiment of the Reserve of Highest Command : 26th Sortavala Fortified Region :1st, 73rd, 80th and 3rd Border Guard Detachments : 55th Mixed Air Division (Petrozadovsk) :: 153rd Fighter Aviation Regiment ::72nd Bomber Aviation Regiment

23rd Army

* 23rd Army (HQ in (Kuusa or Kusa (village)) with its commander General Lieutenant P.S. Pshennikov responsible for the Defence Sector No.3 that included immediate approaches to

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, including two major population centres of particular interest to Finland,

Sortavala Sortavala (; Finnish language, Finnish and ; ), previously known as Serdobol () until 1918, is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located at the northern tip of Lake Ladoga near the Finland, Finni ...

and

Vyborg Vyborg (; , ; , ; , ) is a town and the administrative center of Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus near the head of Vyborg Bay, northwest of St. Petersburg, east of the Finnish capital H ...

. Given the importance of the defended objectives, and previous experience in the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

, the Army was allocated two Rifle Corps, one Mechanised Corps, four rifle divisions, two tank and one Motor Rifle Divisions, three howitzer and one gun Regiment of the Reserve of Highest Command, two Fortified Regions, three border guard detachments, and one aviation division :

19th Rifle Corps The 19th Rifle Corps was a corps of the Soviet Red Army. The 1st Pacific Rifle Division was shifted into the 19th Rifle Corps of the Siberian Military District in June 1929 after the 5th Army (RSFSR), 5th Red Banner Army of the RSFSR was disband ...

:: 142nd Rifle Division :: 115th Rifle Division :

50th Rifle Corps The 50th Rifle Corps was a corps of the Soviet Red Army. It was part of the 23rd Army on 22 June 1941. It took part in the Great Patriotic War. Organization On 22 June 1941, the corps included the following units: * 43rd Rifle Division * 70 ...

:: 43rd Rifle Division :: 123rd Rifle Division : 10th Mechanised Corps (removed from the Army in early July) :: 21st Tank Division :: 24th Tank Division :: 198th Motor Rifle Division :101, 108, 519 Howitzer Artillery Regiments of the Reserve of Highest Command :573 Gun Artillery Regiment of the Reserve of Highest Command :102nd, 5th, 33rd Border Guard Detachments : 27th Vyborg Fortified Region () : 28th Keksgolm Fortified Region () : 5th Mixed Air Division which was particularly tasked with preventing repulsing either amphibious or airborne landings in and around the

coast.

Leningrad People's Opolcheniye Army

* 1st (Kirov) Division of People's Opolcheniye () named for the Kirovsky District (Кировский район) (commander

Kombrig () is an abbreviation of Commanding officer of the brigade (), and was a military rank in the Soviet Armed Forces of the USSR from 1935 to 1940. It was also the designation to military personnel appointed to command a brigade sized formation (X ...

V.A. Malinnikov) **76th Latvian Separate Rifle regiment on the 14 September. * 2nd (Moscow) Division of People's Opolcheniye named for the Moskovsky District (Московский район) () (commander to July, Colonel N.S. Ugrumov) **battalion of the Military-Political Border Guard School named for Voroshilov () **519th Corps (Howitzer) Artillery Regiment of Reserve of Highest Command **Tank battalion of the Armoured Course for Enhancement of Command Staff () *

3rd (Frunze) Division of People's Opolcheniye Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (dis ...

named for the Frunzensky District (Фрунзенский район) () (commander (Colonel А.P. Netreba, from 16 August Z.N. Alekseyev) * 1st Guards Division of People's Opolcheniye () (18 July 1941) (commander Colonel I.M. Frolov) (deployed next to the 237th Rifle Division) formed in the Kuybishev District * 2nd Guards Division of People's Opolcheniye () (18 July 1941) (commander Colonel Sholev, later Colonel V.A. Trubachev) formed in the Sverdlovsk District **tank battalion of the Leningrad garrison * 4th (Dzerzhinsky) Light Division of People's Opolcheniye () (19 July 1941) named for the Dzerzhinsky District (Дзержинский район) (commander Colonel P.I Radigin) ** Separate battalion of Special Purpose () (commander Almazov) * 3rd Guards Division of People's Opolcheniye () (24 July 1941) (commander Colonel V.P. Kotelnikov) formed in the Petrograd District * 4th Guards Division of People's Opolcheniye () (27 July 1941) formed in the Kalinin District (cadre) *264th, 265th and 266th separate machinegun-artillery battalions () (264th – 277th and 282nd, 283rd and 289th battalions were created) *274th separate machinegun-artillery battalion was allocated to the 177th Rifle Division *Four Izhorsk “Admiralty” battalions (later 72nd, 73rd, 74th, 75th Combat Red Banner separate machinegun-artillery battalion of the 55th Army) *Several Destroyer regiments of special purpose were also formed that were eventually integrated into the regular units and partisan detachments. *Deployed in

Gatchina Gatchina (, ) is a town and the administrative center of Gatchinsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies south-south-west of St. Petersburg, along the E95 highway which links Saint Petersburg and Pskov. Population: It was pr ...

was the 60th destroyer battalion () *104th (Terioksky) destroyer battalion (104-й (Териокский) истребительный батальон) deployed in the area of Terioki (now Zelenogorsk) *Deployed around

Kolpino Kolpino () is a administrative divisions of Saint Petersburg, municipal city in Kolpinsky District of the federal cities of Russia, federal city of Saint Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Russia, located on the Izhora River (tributary of th ...

was the 120th destroyer battalion (120-й истребительный батальон) (commander A.I. Osovsky) *2nd Latvian workers regiment (commander) () * 5th (Kuybishevskaya) Division of People's Opolcheniye () (1 September 1941) (commander Colonel F.P. Utkin) formed early September 1941 from the former 4th People's Opolcheniye division and on the 10 September dislocated to

Pulkovo Pulkovo may refer to: *Pulkovo Heights marking the southern limit of Saint Petersburg, Russia *Pulkovo Airport serving Saint Petersburg, Russia * Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise, a former (until 2006) state airline based in Saint Petersburg, Russia *Pu ...

. **291st separate machinegun-artillery battalion (commander Captain Kaverznev) *

6th Division of People's Opolcheniye Sixth is the ordinal form of the number six. * The Sixth Amendment, to the U.S. Constitution * A keg of beer, equal to 5 U.S. gallons or barrel * The fraction Music * Sixth interval (music)s: ** major sixth, a musical interval ** minor sixth ...

() (1 September 1941) * 7th Division of People's Opolcheniye () (commander Colonel I.S. Kuznetsov) raised on the 17 September it was formed on the 30 September as the 56th Rifle Division. *277th separate machinegun-artillery battalion around

Ropsha Ropsha ( rus, Ропша, p=ˈropʂə) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, settlement in Lomonosovsky District, Leningrad Oblast, Lomonosovsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, situated about south of Petergof, Peterhof and south ...

*83rd separate machinegun-artillery battalion (commander Lieutenant E.G. Grigoryev) around

and

65th Rifle Corps

* 65th Rifle Corps (less its Corps artillery regiments) was a separate Corps which covered the No.4 Defence Sector of the Front which covered the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland with its HQ in Nimma 9 km south of

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

and included two divisions :: 11th Rifle Division :: 16th Rifle Division (1st formation; 22 June 1941 - 27 December 1941) : 4th Air Division (from the Leningrad Military District)

Hanko Peninsula naval base

*The Hanko Peninsula naval base (commander General S.I. Kobanov) on the

Hanko Peninsula The Hanko Peninsula (; ) is the southernmost point of mainland Finland. The soil is a sandy moraine, the last tip of the Salpausselkä ridge, and vegetation consists mainly of pine and low shrubs. The peninsula is known for its beautiful archip ...

was responsible for the No.5 Defence Sector and included : 29th Hanko Peninsula naval base Fortified Region () (General Major Shore Duty Aleksei Borisovish Yeliseyev) :: 8th Separate Rifle Brigade (Colonel Nikolai Pavlovich Simonyak) : Hanko Peninsula Border Guard detachment : 13th Fighter Aviation Regiment Separate Reconnaissance Air Squadron : Submarine Divizion : Torpedo Boat Brigade

8th Army

* 8th Army (from North Western Front after 19 August 1941)

48th Army

* 48th Army (from North Western Front after 19 August 1941)

Military aviation of the Leningrad Military District

7th PVO Fighter Aviation Corps (later the 2nd PVO Guards Fighter Aviation Corps) commanded by Colonel Stepan Pavlovich Danilov was responsible for air cover over Leningrad, using basing on 10 primary and 15 reserve air fields, and included *

3rd Air Division The 3rd Air Division (3d AD) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Strategic Air Command, assigned to Fifteenth Air Force, being stationed at Hickam AFB, Hawaii. It was inactivated on 1 April 1992. T ...

equipped with I-16 fighters * 54th Air Division equipped with

Yak-1 The Yakovlev Yak-1 () was a Soviet fighter aircraft of World War II. The Yak-1 was a single-seat monoplane with a composite structure and wooden wings; production began in early 1940.Angelucci and Matricardi 1978, p. 239. The Yak-1 was a man ...

fighters ** 191st, 192nd, 193rd, 194th and 195th Fighter Regiments (IAPs)

Leningrad Military District forces

*The

also included forces directly subordinated to its commander (Popov). : 1st Mechanised Corps less 1st Tank Division which was concentrated around Sluttsk and Pushkino :

70th Rifle Division The 70th Rifle Division () was an infantry division of the Red Army and briefly of the Soviet Army, formed twice. Formed in 1934 at Samara, the division was transferred to the Leningrad Military District in the late 1930s and fought in the Wint ...

in the

Karelian Isthmus The Karelian Isthmus (; ; ) is the approximately stretch of land situated between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia, to the north of the River Neva. Its northwestern boundary is a line from the Bay of Vyborg to the we ...

half way between Leningrad and Vyborg (Muola). : 191st and 177th Rifle Divisions that remained at cadre strength awaiting mobilisation. :

4th Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'', a 1972 Soviet drama ...

, 41st and 39th Air Divisions *The

Baltic Fleet The Baltic Fleet () is the Naval fleet, fleet of the Russian Navy in the Baltic Sea. Established 18 May 1703, under Tsar Peter the Great as part of the Imperial Russian Navy, the Baltic Fleet is the oldest Russian fleet. In 1918, the fleet w ...

(from 28 June 1941) :Vessels of the Baltic Fleet were severely restricted by the geography and lack of air superiority in conducting offensive operations, however their ships batteries included guns in the 305mm, 180mm and 130mm calibres, and the Scientific-research naval artillery range also located in Leningrad possessed 406mm pieces that were being developed for future Soviet

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

designs, and these were without opposition until Germans were able to move the heavy

railway gun A railway gun, also called a railroad gun, is a large artillery piece, often surplus naval artillery, mounted on, transported by, and fired from a specially designed railroad car, railway wagon. Many countries have built railway guns, but the ...

s to the area.

NKVD troops

*The 2nd Division of the NKVD troops () was responsible for security of specific high-value objectives throughout the Leningrad Military District territory, particularly the railways, and its 11,200 troops were equipped with armoured trains and motorised armoured rail-cars.p.189, Lenski, Ground forces of RKKA in the pre-war years: a reference (Сухопутные силы РККА в предвоенные годы. Справочник.) — St Petersburg, B & K, 2000

References

Sources

*Glantz, Stumbling Colossus, 1998, Appendix A {{Fronts of the Red Army in World War II Northern Front