Western Front (Red Army)

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The Western Front ( Russian Западный фронт ) was a military formation of the Red Army during the German-Soviet War (1941–1945). The front was formed on June 22, 1941 from the Western Special Military District (known as the Belarusian Military District before July 1940 ) and existed until April 24, 1944, when it was renamed the 3rd Belarusian Front . At 1,418 days it was the only front that existed for the entire duration of the war between the Soviet Union and Germany.

commitment

Border battles

In June 1941 the front covered 470 km of the western border of the Soviet Union from the southern border of Lithuania to the Pripyat and the city of Włodawa . It joined in the north on the northwest front, which covered the border of the Lithuanian SSR as far as Leningrad, and in the south on the southwest front , which protected Ukraine. For this purpose, the front, under the command of General Dmitri Grigoryevich Pavlov , who had been in command of the military district since June 1940, was subordinate to the 3rd , 4th and 10th Army and the staff of the 13th Army .

The western front faced the main forces of Army Group Center as they advanced towards Moscow. During the first attack, the front lost large parts of its armor and air force, which was largely due to the fact that, due to the shifting of the border as a result of the occupation of eastern Poland in September 1939, insufficient military facilities were available and the fortifications were not yet completed. These difficulties were exacerbated by the deployment of troops from the front, which weakened the flanks. The main power on the western front was concentrated in the Białystok area. The German 9th and 4th Armies broke through the Soviet defensive positions north and south of the Białystok front arc . On the evening of June 25th, the XXXXVII. Panzer Corps between Slonim and Wolkowysk and forced the withdrawal of the troops threatened by the encirclement in the front arc, which bared the entrance to Minsk .

On June 27th, Panzer Groups 2 and 3 struck from the south and north and were able to unite in the Minsk area. On June 28, the German 9th and 4th Armies managed to establish a connection east of Białystok, dividing the basin into two parts: the larger Białystok basin, which comprised the Soviet 10th Army, and the smaller Nowogrodek basin. In doing so, they surrounded the Soviet 3rd, 4th and 10th Armies as well as parts of the 13th Army, a total of around 20 divisions, while remnants of the Soviet 4th and 13th Armies withdrew eastward to the Berezina . The Western Front lost 420,000 of its 625,000 men in 17 days.

The Commander-in-Chief of the front, Army General Dmitri G. Pavlov, and the front staff were recalled to Moscow, where they were accused of deliberately sabotaging the defense and withdrawing without a fight. They were convicted and executed as traitors, and their families were pressured according to NKVD Order No. 00486 . (In 1956 they were rehabilitated.)

Defense of Smolensk and Moscow

Further armies (16th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 24th and 28th Army) from the Stawka reserve marched on the western front: a total of 56 rifle divisions and five mechanized corps, whose approach was completed in mid-July . Andrei Ivanovich Jerjomenko took command of the front and Marshal Timoshenko at the end of July . To protect the threatened military district of Moscow, the "Moscow Reserve Front" under Lieutenant General Artemjew was activated behind the western front in the Moshaisk area by order of Stalin , which was formed by four other reserve armies - the 31st, 32nd, 33rd and 34th. The western front suffered new losses in the Kesselschlacht near Smolensk , but after the defensive battle in the Jelnja area it was possible to stop the German advance for two months. At the end of July the front was divided, on the right wing in the Bryansk area the central front was established under Colonel General Fyodor Kuznetsov , which comprised the 3rd, 13th, 21st and 50th Army .

On September 12, 1941, Colonel General Ivan Stepanovich Konev took command of the Western Front. At that time, this comprised the 22nd, 29th, 30th, 19th, 16th and 20th armies, which stood side by side from Lake Selig in the north to Jelnja in the south. At the beginning of the Taifun operation , the German Army Group Center succeeded in another successful pincer operation. The Soviet 19th Army, 24th Army, 20th, 30th and 16th Army were in the Vyazma pocket , so that a total of more than five armies were left out for defense.

During this crisis, Army General Zhukov took over command of the Battle of Moscow on October 10th . Despite the incorporation of the reserve front in mid-October, the western front initially only had 90,000 men. Meanwhile, the 33rd Army formed under Lieutenant General Yefremov near Naro-Fominsk and was placed under Zhukov's command. A newly formed 16th Army under General Rokossovsky defended Volokolamsk . General Goworow commanded the 5th Army , which had recently been formed from the 1st Guards Rifle Corps and was soon to be reinforced by the 32nd Rifle Division in Moshaisk. The 43rd Army under General Golubjew was in Maloyaroslavets , the 49th Army under General Sacharkin near Kaluga and the 50th Army under General Ivan Boldin in the Tula front .

In the course of the strategic counter-offensive in December 1941, the units of the front, in cooperation with the Kalininer Front and the Southwest Front, inflicted the first major defeat on Army Group Center and threw the enemy back by 100 to 250 kilometers.

1942

In the course of the strategic operation of Rzhev-Vyazma , the armies of the Western Front, together with the units of the Kalinin Front and with the assistance of the armies of the Brjansker and the Northwest Front, were able to repel the enemy 80 to 250 kilometers to the west and the Moscow and Tula oblasts , as well as liberating many districts of the Kalinin and Smolensk oblasts .

In July and August 1942, the units of the front, together with the Kalininer Front, succeeded in the Rzhev-Sychovka operation in liquidating the enemy deployment base on the left of the Volga in the Rzhev district.

After General Konev had late August 1942 again taken the lead of the Western Front, he prepared under the direction Zhukov the Operation Mars (the attack began on November 25) before: The right wing of the Western Front was doing with the left wing of the front Kalinin (General Purkajew ) cut off the bulk of the German 9th Army in the front arc of Rzhev and recapture the Moscow – Velikiye Luki railway connection . Reinforced by the Moscow Military District, around 830,000 soldiers and 2,300 tanks were deployed in the first phase of the operation of Operation Mars . Subsequently, another pincer movement in Operation Jupiter was intended to destroy the remaining formations of Army Group Center in the Smolensk area . The attack brought minor initial successes, but failed after German counter-attacks until mid-December with heavy losses.

1943

During the Battle of Kursk in July and August 1943, the armies of the left wing, along with the Brjansk and Central Front, carried out the Oryol Operation to destroy the German occupying forces. Taking advantage of the advantageous strategic location in August and September 1943, the front, together with the armies of the left wing of the Kalinin Front, carried out the Smolensk Operation , as a result of which the Soviet troops advanced 200 to 250 kilometers further west and large parts of the Kalinin and liberated the Smolensk region.

At the end of 1943 to the beginning of 1944, the armies of the front, attacking in the direction of Vitebsk and Orsha , were able to advance into the eastern districts of Belarus.

On April 24, 1944, the High Command of the Front formed the 3rd Belarusian Front , while the armies of the 2nd Belarusian Front were subordinated.

3. Belarusian Front

The 3rd Belarusian Front ( Russian : Третий Белорусский фронт) initially included the 5th, 31st and 39th Army and the 1st Air Army. Subsequently, the 2nd and 11th Guards Army, the 3rd, 21st, 28th, 33rd, 43rd, 48th and 50th Armies , the 5th Guards Armored Army and the 3rd Air Army were subordinated.

During the Belarusian operation in 1944, the front carried out operations against Vitebsk-Orsha (together with the 1st Baltic Front), Vilnius and Kaunas . The armies of the front advanced 500 km and liberated the cities of Vitebsk, Orsha, Baryssau , Minsk and Maladechna , occupied Vilnius, Kaunas and other Lithuanian cities and crossed the border with East Prussia .

In October 1944, the 39th Army and the 1st Air Army of the Front supported the Memel operation of the 1st Baltic Front, as a result of which Army Group Courland was encircled.

The armies of the front were able to advance up to 60 km into East Prussia and northeastern Poland and conquer the cities of Stallupönen , Goldap and Suwałki .

From January to April 1945 the troops of the 3rd Byelorussian Front took part in the strategic operations in East Prussia ( East Prussian Operation (1945) ), for example in the Insterburg-Königsberg Operation from January 13 to 21. In cooperation with the 2nd Belarusian Front, it broke through the deeply staggered defense, advanced 70 to 130 km and reached the outskirts of Koenigsberg . This cut off the German units standing in this part of East Prussia. After the destruction of the German 4th Army in the Heiligenbeil pocket , the 3rd Byelorussian Front reached the Fresh Lagoon .

Between April 6 and April 9, 1945, the units of the front conquered Königsberg ( Battle of Königsberg ). On April 25, after the enemy troops had been destroyed in Samland , the town and port of Pillau were captured.

On August 15, 1945, the front was disbanded by order of the Soviet High Command of July 9, 1945 and used to form the administration of the Baranowitschi military district .

Status today

Since the Russian Armed Forces are still based on the organization of the Soviet Army, it is possible that the Western Front still exists as the command authority on the staff of the Moscow Military District of the Russian Armed Forces . At least this is the conclusion drawn from the Moscow Military District reports in April 2001, when the military district's troops were divided into two groups, "one operated as the Western Front and the other as a wartime military district."

Front command

Commander in chief

Members of the Military Council

  • Corps Commissioner AJ Fominych (June – July 1941)
  • Army Commissioner 1st Rank LS Mechlis (July 1941, December 1943 to April 1944; from October 1942 Lieutenant General)
  • Secretary of the Central Committee of the CP of Belarus PK Ponomarenko (July 1941)
  • Lieutenant General NA Bulganin (July 1941 to December 1943)
  • Lieutenant General WJ Makarow (April 1944 until the end of the war).

Chiefs of Staff

  • Lieutenant General WJ Klimowskich (June 1941)
  • Lieutenant General GK Malandin (July 1941)
  • Lieutenant General WD Sokolowski (July 1941 to January 1942, May 1942 to February 1943)
  • Major General WS Golushkevich (January to May 1942)
  • Lieutenant General AP Pokrowski (February 1943 until the end of the war; August 1944 Colonel General).

See also

literature

  • Steven J. Main: The Belarusian Armed Forces: a Military-Political Analysis 1991-2003 . G126, Conflict Studies Research Center, October 2003.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Geoffrey Jukes: Panzer vor Moskau, Erich Pabel Verlag Rastatt 1984, p. 51
  2. ↑ Erickson, The Road to Stalingrad, 1975, p. 218.
  3. ^ AVN Military News Agency, April 16, 2001, via BBC Monitoring Global Newsline FSU Political File, April 17, 2001.