The Southeastern 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
World War II
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 ...
.
It was formed on August 5, 1942, out of parts of the
Stalingrad Front
The Stalingrad Front was a front, a military unit encompassing several armies, of the Soviet Union's Red Army during the Second World War. The name indicated the primary geographical region in which the Front first fought, based on the city of St ...
, using the command elements from the
First Tank Army and the disbanded
Southern Front. The front's main aim was to prevent the German advance towards the
Volga River
The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...
and ward off the threat of a German encirclement of
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 ...
.
For this purpose it included :
*
52nd Army (
Vsevolod Yakovlev),
*
57th Army (
Fyodor Tolbukhin
Fyodor Ivanovich Tolbukhin (; 16 June 1894 – 17 October 1949) was a Soviet Union, Soviet military commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union. He is regarded as one of the finest Soviet generals of World War II.
Born into a peasant family i ...
),
*
64th Army(
Vasily Chuikov
Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov (, ; – 18 March 1982) was a Soviet military commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union. He is best known for commanding the 62nd Army which saw heavy combat during the Battle of Stalingrad in the Second World War ...
) .
Were later added to the forces of the front :
*
28th Army (
Vasyl Herasymenko
Vasily Filippovich Gerasimenko () was a Soviet Army lieutenant general who held field army command during World War II.
A Ukrainian, he was nominally and temporarily appointed the People's Commissar of Defense of the Ukrainian SSR in 1944-45.
B ...
),
*
62nd Army
The 62nd Army () was a field army established by the Soviet Union's Red Army during the Second World War.
History
The Army was formed on 28 May 1942 as the 7th Reserve Army, a part of the Reserve of the Supreme High Command. The formation wa ...
(
Anton Lopatin
Anton Ivanovich Lopatin (; 18 January 1897 – 9 April 1965) was a Soviet Army lieutenant general who held field army and corps command during World War II. Lopatin was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union of his leadership of a corps in the ...
),
*
8th Air Army
The 8th Air Army was a military formation of the Soviet Air Forces, active from around 1942 to 1949.
It was formed June 13, 1942, by order of the State Defence Committee (NKO) Number 00119 dated June 9, 1942, on the basis of the Air Forces of th ...
(
Timofey Khryukin
Timofey Timofeyevich Khryukin (; , in Yeysk19 July 1953, in Moscow) was a Soviet aviator, Spanish Civil War volunteer, and colonel-general of the Soviet Air Force. Emerging from an impoverished working-class background, he rose to command the 8th ...
).
On September 28 the Southeastern Front was disbanded; most of its forces became the new
Stalingrad Front
The Stalingrad Front was a front, a military unit encompassing several armies, of the Soviet Union's Red Army during the Second World War. The name indicated the primary geographical region in which the Front first fought, based on the city of St ...
, whilst the former Stalingrad Front was renamed the
Don Front The Don Front was a front of the Soviet Red Army during the Second World War, 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.
F ...
.
[David M. Glantz, ''Armageddon in Stalingrad'', University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2009, pp 272-73]
Commanders
* Colonel-General
Andrey Yeryomenko
Andrey Ivanovich Yeryomenko (; Ukrainian: Андрій Іванович Єрьоменко; November 19, 1970) was a Soviet general during World War II and Marshal of the Soviet Union. During the war, Yeryomenko commanded the Southeastern Front ...
;
* Brigadekomissar V. M. Layok (Member of the Military Council - August 1942);
*
Communist Party of Ukraine (Soviet Union)
The Communist Party of Ukraine (, КПУ, ''KPU''; ) was the founding and ruling political party of the Ukrainian SSR operated as a republican branch ( union republics) of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU).Pyrih, R. Communist Pa ...
Central Committee Secretary
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...
(Member of the Military Council, August–September 1942);
* Major General G. F. Sakharov (Chief of Staff, August–September 1942).
References
{{Fronts of the Red Army in World War II
Soviet fronts