The Southwestern Front was a front 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 ...

, formed thrice. It was first created on June 22, 1941 from the

Kiev Special Military District Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. The western boundary of the front in June 1941 was 865 km long, from the

Pripyat River The Pripyat or Prypiat is a river in Eastern Europe. The river, which is approximately long, flows east through Ukraine, Belarus, and into Ukraine again, before draining into the Dnieper at Kyiv Reservoir. Name etymology Max Vasmer notes in h ...

and the town of Wlodawa to the

Prut River The Prut (also spelled in English as Pruth; , ) is a river in Eastern Europe. It is a left tributary of the Danube, and is long. Part of its course forms Romania's border with Moldova and Ukraine. Characteristics The Prut originates on the eas ...

and the town of Lipkany at the border with Romania. It connected to the north with the Western Front, which extended to the Lithuanian border, and to the south with the Southern Front, which extended to the city of

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

on the Black Sea.

Operational history

The Southwestern Front was on the main axis of attack by the German

Army Group South Army Group South () was the name of one of three German Army Groups during World War II. It was first used in the 1939 September Campaign, along with Army Group North to invade Poland. In the invasion of Poland, Army Group South was led by Ge ...

during

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

. At the outbreak of war with Germany, the Front was commanded by

Mikhail Kirponos Mikhail Petrovich Kirponos (, , ; 12 January 1892 – 20 September 1941) was a Soviet general of the Red Army during World War II. Being accorded the highest military decoration, the Hero of the Soviet Union title, for the skill and courage in ...

and contained the Soviet 5th, 6th, 26th, and 12th Armies along the frontier. 16th and 19th Armies were in reserve behind the forward forces. These forces took part in the tank battles in western

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and were surrounded and destroyed at the

Battle of Uman The Battle of Uman (15 July – 8 August 1941) was the World War II German offensive in Uman, Uman, Ukraine against the 6th Army (Soviet Union), 6th and 12th Army (Soviet Union), 12th Soviet Armies. In a three-week period, the Wehrmacht encircle ...

and the

Battle of Kiev (1941) The First Battle of Kiev was the German name for the major battle that resulted in an encirclement of Red Army, Soviet troops in the vicinity of Kiev during World War II, the capital and most populous city of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Re ...

in August and September 1941. Kirponos himself was killed during the Battle of Kiev. The Front was immediately re-established with new forces. During the period of the

Battle of Moscow The Battle of Moscow was a military campaign that consisted of two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II, between October 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive effort frustrated H ...

it was under the command of Marshal Timoshenko, and included from north to south the 40th, 21st, 38th and 6th

Armies An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

. It was formally disbanded on July 12, 1942 and the forces transferred to the Stalingrad Front and Southern Front. The Front was reformed from reserve armies on October 22, 1942. It was renamed the 3rd Ukrainian Front on October 20, 1943. 3rd Ukrainian Front's first operations were the

Battle of the Dnieper The Battle of the Dnieper was a military campaign that took place in 1943 on the Eastern Front of World War II. Being one of the largest operations of the war, it involved almost four million troops at one point and stretched over a front. Ov ...

and the

Battle of Kiev (1943) The Second Battle of Kiev was a part of a much wider Soviet offensive in Ukraine known as the Battle of the Dnieper involving three strategic operations by the Soviet Red Army and its Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak units and one operational cou ...

Southwestern Front on 22 June 1941

Composition Subordinate Front units directly under Commander of the Front:Boevoi Sostav Sovietskoi Armii czast I juni-dekabr 1941 Moskva 1966 page 9 *31st Rifle Corps : 193rd Rifle Division : 195th Rifle Division : 200th Rifle Division *36th Rifle Corps: : 140th Rifle Division : 146th Rifle Division : 228th Rifle Division *49th Rifle Corps : 190th Rifle Division : 197th Rifle Division : 199th Rifle Division *55th Rifle Corps : 130th Rifle Division : 169th Rifle Division : 189th Rifle Division * 1st Airborne Corps :1st Airborne Infantry Brigade :204th Airborne Infantry Brigade :211th Airborne Infantry Brigade *Fortified Regions : 1st Kiev :3rd Latichov :5th Khorosten :7th Novogrudok–Volynsk :13th Shepetovka :15th Ostropol :17th Izaslav *Front Artillery :5th Anti-Tank Brigade :205th Corps Artillery Regiment :207th Corps Artillery Regiment :368th Corps Artillery Regiment :457th Corps Artillery Regiment :458th Corps Artillery Regiment :507th Corps Artillery Regiment :543rd Corps Artillery Regiment :646th Corps Artillery Regiment :305th Cannon Artillery Regiment (RGK) :355th Cannon Artillery Regiment (RGK) :4th High Power Howitzer Regiment (RGK) :168th High Power Howitzer Regiment (RGK) :324th High Power Howitzer Regiment (RGK) :330th High Power Howitzer Regiment (RGk) :526th High Power Howitzer Regiment (RGK) :331st Howitzer Regiment (RGK) :376th Howitzer Regiment (RGK) :529th Howitzer Regiment (RGK) :538th Howitzer Regiment (RGK) :589th Howitzer Regiment (RGK) :34th Independent Special Artillery Division :245th Independent Special Artillery Division :315th Independent Special Artillery Division :316th Independent Special Artillery Division :263rd Independent Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division *Front PVO :3rd Air Defense Division :4th Air Defense Division :11th Air Defense Brigade :Air Defense Brigade Regions: ::Stanislavov ::Rovno ::Zhitomir ::Tarnopol ::Vinnitsa *Front Tank/Mechanized Troops : 19th Mechanized Corps: :: 40th Tank Division :: 43rd Tank Division :: 213th Mechanized Division ::21st Motorcycle Regiment : 24th Mechanized Corps: :: 45th Tank Division :: 49th Tank Division :: 216th Mechanized Division ::17th Motorcycle Regiment :1st Independent Armoured Car Division *Front Air Forces :44th Fighter Aviation Division :64th Fighter Aviation Division :19th Bomber Aviation Division :62nd Bomber Aviation Division :14th Mixed Aviation Division :15th Mixed Aviation Division :16th Mixed Aviation Division :17th Mixed Aviation Division :63rd Mixed Aviation Division :36th Fighter Aviation Division (PVO) :315th Air Reconnaissance Regiment :316th Air Reconnaissance Regiment *Front Engineer Troops :45th Engineer Regiment :1st Pontoon Bridge Regiment

Commanders

* Colonel General Mikhail P. Kirponos (June 1941 – September 1941: killed in action) * Marshal Semyon K. Timoshenko (September 1941 – December 1941; April–July 1942) * Lieutenant General Fyodor Kostenko (December 1941 – April 1942) * Lieutenant General Nikolai F. Vatutin romoted to Colonel General in December 1942(October 1942 – March 1943) * Colonel General Rodion Ia. Malinovsky (March 1943 – October 1943)

Operational history

Southwestern Front on 22 June 1941

Commanders

References and notes

Further reading