Southern Front (Red Army)

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The Southern Front ( Russian Южный фронт ) was a major unit of the Red Army during the Second World War . It was formed three days after the start of the German attack on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 and existed until July 28, 1942. A new southern front was formed from the Stalingrad Front on January 1, 1943 and on October 20, 1943 in 4 Renamed Ukrainian Front . The front continued under this name until the end of the war in Europe in 1945.

First formation

On June 25, 1941, the leadership of the Moscow military district , which had been moved south, formed the southern front under the command of Lieutenant General Ivan Vladimirovich Tjulenev . At the end of June, 19 rifle, 3 cavalry, 6 tank and 3 motorized rifle divisions were assigned to the front:

  • Defense area of Odessa
  • 9. Independent Army under Lieutenant General Yes. T. Tscherewitschenko (14th, 35th and 48th Rifle Corps, 2nd and 18th Mechanized Corps and 2nd Cavalry Corps)
  • 18th Army under General KA Smirnow (17th and 55th Rifle Corps, 16th Mechanized Corps)
  • 7th Rifle Corps (Major General KL Dobroserdow)
  • in Crimea: 9th Independent Rifle Corps (Major General PI Batov)
  • 3rd Airborne Corps (Major General VA Glasunow)
  • 10th, 12th, 80th and 82nd fortified room
  • 20th, 21st and 45th Mixed Aviation Divisions
  • 62nd and 63rd bomber brigades

During the battle between Prut and Dniester on July 12, 1941, the front received additional forces from the dissolved south-western front . After heavy losses in the Battle of the Sea of ​​Azov , the front troops were pushed back to Rostov-on-Don in November . After the start of the Don offensive , this city was lost to the German troops. The first formation of the front was officially disbanded on July 28, 1942, and its troops were transferred to the North Caucasus Front .

Second formation

In July 1942, three reserve armies ( 1st , 5th and 7th ) of the Stawka were relocated to the Stalingrad area and renamed 64th , 63rd and 62nd Army respectively. These armies formed the Stalingrad Front on July 12, 1942, which formed the new southern front on January 1, 1943 under Colonel General Andrei Ivanovich Jerjomenko . The southern front deployed on the southern section of the eastern front was subordinate to the following major units:

The troops of the front liberated Salsk on January 22nd and reached the Mius sector by February 20, 1943 during the reconquest of Rostov (February 14th) .

Together with the armies of the Southwest Front (General Watutin), the troops of the South Front took part in the Donets-Mius operation . In the Donets Basin operation from mid-August to the end of September, the 5th Shock Army and the 2nd Guard Army succeeded in taking Stalino on September 8th . As a result of the simultaneous advance on the coast of the Sea of Azov and the Melitopol operation , which began on September 29, the lower reaches of the Dnieper and the access to the Crimean peninsula were reached. The southern front was renamed the 4th Ukrainian Front on October 20, 1943 .

4th Ukrainian front

4ty ukraiński.jpg

The 4th Ukrainian Front was created in 1943 by renaming the Southern Front and was first used in the Battle of the Dnieper and in the Second Battle of Kiev . In April 1944 the front undertook an offensive to liberate the German-occupied Crimea , which led to the Battle of the Crimea , in which the 4th Ukrainian Front , consisting of the 2nd Guard Army , 51st Army , 19th Panzer Corps and the Independent Coastal Army on the Kerch peninsula , destroyed the German 17th Army and finally retaken Sevastopol on May 10, 1944 .

In September 1944 the front in western Ukraine was ready to advance from there together with the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts across the Carpathian Mountains and to enclose Budapest from the north. Petrow's front attacked on September 9th, but progress was slow because of the strong Hungarian and German resistance, led by Colonel General Gotthard Heinrici . On October 28th the Soviet troops had captured Uzhgorod and Mukachevo , but the German troops were still in Slovakia .

In January 1945 the front penetrated Silesia and at the end of April 1945 the front under General Andrei Yeryomenko advanced towards Prague . On May 8, 1945, the troops of the front captured Olomouc .

Operations

Front command

First formation

Second formation

4th Ukrainian front

  • Army General FI Tolbuchin (August 1943 to May 1944)
  • Colonel General Je. A. Shchadenko (Member of the Military Council, October 1943 to January 1944)
  • Major General HE Subbotin (member of the Military Council, January – May 1944) (since April 1944 Lieutenant General)
  • Lieutenant General SS Birjusow (Chief of Staff, October 1943 to May 1944)
  • Lieutenant General FK Korschenewitsch (Chief of Staff, May 1944)

4th Ukrainian Front (2nd formation)

  • Colonel General Ivan Efimovich Petrov (August 1944 to March 1945) (Army General since October 1944)
  • Army General Andrei Ivanovich Jerjomenko (March – July 1945)
  • Colonel General Lev Sakharovich Mechlis (Member of the Military Council, August 1944 to July 1945)
  • Lieutenant General FK Korschenewitsch (Chief of Staff, August 1944 to April 1945)
  • Colonel General LM Sandalow (Chief of Staff, April – July 1945).

See also

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Щаденко Ефим Афанасьевич. knowbysight.info, accessed April 19, 2018 (Russian).