Soviet Southern Front

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The Southern Front was a Front 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 Southern Front describes either of two distinct organizations during the war. The first version was created on June 25, 1941 from the forces in the Moscow and Odessa military districts. It was commanded by General Ivan V. Tiulenev from June 1941-August 1941. Lieutenant General Dmitri I. Riabyshev took over in August 1941 and held command until October, when Colonel General Yakov Cherevichenko took command, until December 1941. Lieutenant General Rodion Ia. Malinovsky arrived in December and held the reins until July 1942. The Front received additional forces from the (disbanded) Southwestern Front on July 12, 1942 and was formally disbanded on July 28, 1942, with the forces transferred to the North Caucasus Front.

1 Stalingrad Front
2 Second Formation
3 Fourth Ukrainian Front
4 Sources and External References

[edit] Stalingrad Front

In July 1942, three armies (the 1st, 5th and 7th armies) out of the Supreme High Command reserve were moved into the Stalingrad sector and redesignated the 64th, 63rd and 62nd armies respectively. They formed the core of the Stalingrad Front on 12 July.

[edit] Second Formation

The second version of this Front was created from the Stalingrad Front on January 1, 1943, and Colonel General Andrei I. Eremenko took command until February. General Lieutenant Rodion Malinovsky [promoted to Colonel General in February 1943]then filled in until Lieutenant General Fyodor I. Tolbukhin took command in March 1943. Tolbukhin was promoted to Colonel General in April. He would command the Front into 1944. Southern Front was renamed the 4th Ukrainian Front on October 20, 1943.

[edit] Fourth Ukrainian Front

The Front's first operations were the Battle of the Dnieper and the Battle of Kiev (1943). In early 1944 an offensive was launched against the German-held Crimea, resulting in Battle of the Crimea (1944) in which 4UF, including 2nd Guards Army, 51st Army and Independent Coastal Army, destroyed the German Seventeenth Army holding out there. 5th Shock Army and 28th Army were also part of the Front at the time, but do not appear from U.S. military maps to have actually taken part in the battle.