Southwestern Front (Soviet Union)

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Southwestern Front (Soviet Union) - Wikipedia

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Southwestern Front
Active	22 June 1941 – 12 July 1942 22 October 1942 – 20 October 1943
Country	Soviet Union
Branch	Red Army
Type	Army Group Command
Size	Several Armies
Engagements	World War II Operation Barbarossa Battle of Moscow Second Battle of Kharkov Operation Little Saturn Third Battle of Kharkov Donbas Strategic Offensive
Commanders
Notable commanders	Semyon Timoshenko Rodion Malinovsky

The Southwestern Front was a front of the Red Army during the Second World War, formed thrice.

It was first created on June 22, 1941 from the Kiev Special Military District. The western boundary of the front in June 1941 was 865 km long, from the Pripyat River and the town of Wlodawa to the Prut River 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 on the Black Sea.

Operational history

The Southwestern Front was on the main axis of attack by the German Army Group South during Operation Barbarossa. At the outbreak of war with Germany, the Front was commanded by Mikhail Kirponos 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 and were surrounded and destroyed at the Battle of Uman and the Battle of Kiev (1941) 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 it was under the command of Marshal Timoshenko, and included from north to south the 40th, 21st, 38th and 6th Armies. 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 and the Battle of Kiev (1943).

Southwestern Front on 22 June 1941

Composition Subordinate Front units directly under Commander of the Front:^[1]

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 [promoted to Colonel General in December 1942] (October 1942 – March 1943)
Colonel General Rodion Ia. Malinovsky (March 1943 – October 1943)

References and notes

^ Boevoi Sostav Sovietskoi Armii czast I juni-dekabr 1941 Moskva 1966 page 9

Boevoi Sostav Sovietskoi Armii Czast I 1941 goda juni–dekabr 1941 Moskva 1966 (Combat composition of the Soviet Army)
Solonin, Mark, 22 June 1941 Bocka i obruci czili Kogda naczalas Vielikaja Oteczestvennaja vojna 2004
Erickson, John, The Road to Stalingrad, Cassell Military Paperback, 2003
Fugate, Bryan & Dvoriecki, Lev, Thunder on the Dnepr Presidio Press

Battle of Stalingrad

Operations

Nazi Germany	Donnerschlag Winter Storm
Soviet Union	Uranus Little Saturn Koltso

Formations

Army groups
and fronts

	B Centre Don
	Don Southwestern Stalingrad Voronezh

Armies

Axis	German 4th Panzer German 6th Hungarian 2nd Italian 8th Romanian 3rd and 4th
	1st Guards 2nd Guards 3rd Guards 21st 51st 62nd 64th 65th

Corps

Tank	1st 4th 13th 16th 24th 26th
others	4th Mechanised 3rd Guards Cavalry 4th Cavalry 8th Cavalry

Divisions

Panzer	6th 14th 16th 17th 22nd 24th
Infantry	3rd Motorised 29th Motorised 60th Motorised 5th 44th 71st 76th 79th 94th 100th 113th 295th 297th 305th 371st 376th 384th 389th
others	9th Flak

Guards Rifle	13th 15th 33rd 35th 36th 37th 39th
Rifle	38th 45th 62nd 64th 91st 93rd 95th 112th 138th 157th 169th 173rd 181st 193rd 196th 204th 214th 221st 248th 284th 302nd 308th 422nd
others	60th Cavalry 81st Cavalry

Notable participants

Nazi Germany	Adolf Hitler Alexander Edler von Daniels Hermann Göring Hermann Hoth Hans-Valentin Hube Erich von Manstein Friedrich Paulus Wolfram von Richthofen Arthur Schmidt Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach Karl Strecker
Romania	Constantin Constantinescu-Claps Petre Dumitrescu Mihail Lascăr
Other Axis members	Viktor Pavičić (Croatia) Italo Gariboldi (Italy) Gusztáv Jány (Hungary)
Soviet Union	Joseph Stalin Hazi Aslanov Vasily Badanov Vasily Chuikov Nikolay Dyatlenko Sasha Filippov Filipp Golikov Vasily Gordov Vasily Grossman Nikita Khrushchev Nikolay Krylov Dmitry Lelyushenko Rodion Malinovsky Kirill Moskalenko Yakov Pavlov Alexander Rodimtsev Konstantin Rokossovsky Alexander Shcherbakov Semyon Timoshenko Aleksandr Vasilevsky Nikolay Voronov Erich Weinert Andrei Yeremenko Vasily Zaitsev Aleksey Zhadov Georgy Zhukov

Significant locations
Barmaley Fountain Barrikady Factory Grain Elevator Gumrak Kalach Mamayev Kurgan Pavlov's House Pitomnik Airfield Red October Steel Factory River Don River Volga Tatsinskaya Airfield Tsaritsa Gorge Tractor Plant

In memoriam
The Motherland Calls Stalingrad Madonna Sword of Stalingrad Battle of Stalingrad in popular culture

Fronts of the Red Army in World War II

1938–40

June 1941

Mid-war

Late war

Baltic	1 2 3

Belorussian	1 2 3

Ukrainian	1 2 3 4

Far Eastern	1 2

Category:

Soviet fronts

Hidden categories:

Operational history

Southwestern Front on 22 June 1941

Commanders

References and notes

Further reading