In a military context, the term front can have several meanings. According to official
US Department of Defense and
NATO definitions, a front can be "the line of contact of two opposing forces."
[Leonard, B. (2011). Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms: As Amended Through April 2010. (n.p.): DIANE Publishing Company. p. 193] This
front line
A front line (alternatively front-line or frontline) in military terminology is the position(s) closest to the area of conflict of an armed force's personnel and equipment, usually referring to land forces. When a front (an intentional or uninte ...
can be a local or
tactical
Tactic(s) or Tactical may refer to:
* Tactic (method), a conceptual action implemented as one or more specific tasks
** Military tactics, the disposition and maneuver of units on a particular sea or battlefield
** Chess tactics
** Political tacti ...
front, or it can range to a
theater. An example of the latter was the
Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to:
Military frontiers
*Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany
*Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany
*Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...
in France and Belgium in World War I.
Relatedly, front can refer to the direction of the enemy or, in the absence of combat, the direction towards which a military unit is facing.
[ Conversely, the term "home front" has been used to denote conditions in the civilian sector of a country at war, including those involved in the production of matériel.
Front can also refer to the lateral space occupied by a military unit as measured from the extremity of one Flanking maneuver, flank to the other.][ The amount of front occupied by a unit depends on many factors, including time period and available technology. For example, under the military doctrine of the Soviet Army and those which copied it, the amount front occupied by an attacking unit depended on its size. A Division (military), division attacking with three regiments in the first echelon would maintain an attack zone of 15 to 25 kilometers wide. A regiment's front was typically 4 to 5 kilometers wide, but could vary between 3 to 8 kilometers. This frontage decreased with each smaller unit involved: 2 to 3 kilometers for a battalion, 500 to 800 meters for a company (military unit), company, and 100 to 200 meters for a platoon (military unit), platoon.][FM 5-34 Engineer Field Data. Department of the Army. 30 August 1999. Threat 2-11]
Additionally, the Soviet Army used the term "Front (Soviet Army), front" to mean an army group; the Polish Army, Polish Armies used the same terminology during the Polish-Soviet War and World War II.
The term "front line city" was used by the Germans during their long retreat from Moscow/Stalingrad to refer to metropolitan centres that had become disputed by the two combatants. Designation of a city as such resulted in administrative changes (largely the imposition of martial law). In the film ''Downfall (2004 film), Downfall'', the term was briefly referenced.
See also
*Rear (military)
References
Military organization
Military geography
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