Kalinin Front

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The Kalinin Front was a Front (i.e. a military formation of roughly Army Group size) of the Soviet Army during the Second World War. This sense of the term is not identical with the more general usage of military front which indicates a geographic area in wartime, although a Soviet Front may operate within designated boundaries.

The Kalinin Front was formally established by Stavka directive on 17 October 1941, and allocated three armies - 22nd, 29th and 30th. In November 1942, along with the Soviet Western Front, the Kalinin Front launched Operation Mars against the German defences in the Rzhev/Vyaz'ma salient. 3rd Shock Army, now allocated to Kalinin Front, started the operation on 24 November by attacking Third Panzer Army at Velikiye Luki, and the next day the Kalinin and Western Fronts assaulted the entire perimeter of the Rzhev salient. The offensive involved the 41st, 22nd, 39th, 31st, 20th, and 29th Armies from both Fronts.

The Front was also involved in offensive operations in late 1941/early 1942, and in the winter campaign of 1942/43 again at Rzhev in November 1942 and then with its right wing at the Battle of Velikiye Luki in January-March 1943.

It was renamed the 1st Baltic Front Oct-Dec 1943.

[edit] Sources and References

• John Erickson, The Road to Stalingrad, 1975
• David Glantz, Colossus Reborn: The Red Army at War 1941-43, University Press of Kansas, 2005, p.495