The 2nd Baltic Front (russian: 2-й Прибалтийский фронт) was a major formation of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

History

The 2nd Baltic Front was formed on October 20, 1943 as a result of the renaming of the Baltic Front, itself a successor of the

Bryansk Front The Bryansk Front (russian: Брянский фронт) was a major formation of the Red Army during the Second World War. First Formation (August - November 1941) General Andrei Yeremenko was designated commander of the Front when it first fo ...

10 days earlier. From 1 to 21 November 1943, the left wing of the Front took part in the Polotsk–Vitebsk Offensive.
In January-February, the front participated in the Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive of 1944. During the Staraya Russa-Novorzhev Offensive, the Front troops reached Ostrov,

Pushkinskiye Gory Pushkinskiye Gory (russian: Пушкинские Горы) is an urban locality (a work settlement) and the administrative center of Pushkinogorsky District of Pskov Oblast, Russia. Municipally, it is incorporated as Pushkinogorye Urban Settle ...

and

Idritsa Idritsa (russian: Идрица) is an urban locality (a work settlement) in Sebezhsky District of Pskov Oblast, Russia, located on the Idritsa River, a left tributary of the Velikaya River. Municipally, it is incorporated as Idritsa Urban Settl ...

. In July 1944, the Rezhitsa–Dvinsk Offensive was carried out and the Front advanced 200 km to the west. In August it conducted the Madona Offensive, during which it advanced another 60-70 km along the northern shore of the

Daugava River , be, Заходняя Дзвіна (), liv, Vēna, et, Väina, german: Düna , image = Fluss-lv-Düna.png , image_caption = The drainage basin of the Daugava , source1_location = Valdai Hills, Russia , mouth_location = Gulf of Riga, Baltic S ...

and freed the city of

Madona Madona (; german: Modohn) is a town with town rights in the Vidzeme region of Latvia and is the center of the Madona municipality. History The surrounding area of Madona had been populated in earlier times, which is confirmed by discoveries ...

, a major junction of railways and highway roads. In September-October 1944, during the Baltic Offensive, the front troops took part in the Riga Operation and by October 22 reached the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

near the Memel river, blocking together with the troops of the 1st Baltic Front, the German

Army Group North Army Group North (german: Heeresgruppe Nord) was a German strategic formation, commanding a grouping of field armies during World War II. The German Army Group was subordinated to the ''Oberkommando des Heeres'' (OKH), the German army high comman ...

in the

Courland Pocket The Courland Pocket (Blockade of the Courland army group), (german: Kurland-Kessel)/german: Kurland-Brückenkopf (Courland Bridgehead), lv, Kurzemes katls (Courland Cauldron) or ''Kurzemes cietoksnis'' (Courland Fortress)., group=lower-alpha ...

. Subsequently, until April 1945, they continued the blockade and fought to destroy

Army Group Courland Army Group Courland (german: Heeresgruppe Kurland) was a German Army Group on the Eastern Front which was created from remnants of the Army Group North, isolated in the Courland Peninsula by the advancing Soviet Army forces during the 1944 Balt ...

. On April 1, 1945, the front was abolished and its troops were transferred to the

Leningrad Front The Leningrad Front (russian: Ленинградский фронт) was formed during the 1941 German approach on Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) by dividing the Northern Front into the Leningrad Front and Karelian Front The Karelian Front ...

Composition

On 1 October 1944 the 2nd Baltic Front consisted of: * 3rd Shock Army **

79th Rifle Corps The 79th Rifle Corps () was a rifle corps of the Red Army in World War II that became part of the Soviet Army during the Cold War. World War II The corps was formed in July 1943 as a headquarters with no troops assigned, and subordinated to th ...

*** 150th Rifle Division *** 171st Rifle Division ***

207th Rifle Division The 207th Rifle Division began its combat path under unusual circumstances. It was partly formed for the first time as a standard Red Army rifle division in the spring of 1941, before the German invasion, but was never completed. A second formation ...

** 100th Rifle Corps *** 21st Guards Rifle Division *** 28th Rifle Division *** 200th Rifle Division * 10th Guards Army **

7th Guards Rifle Corps 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, ...

*** 7th Rifle Division *** 8th Rifle Division *** 119th Guards Rifle Division ** 15th Guards Rifle Corps ( 29th, 30, 85th Guards Rifle Divisions) ** 19th Guards Rifle Corps (22, 56, 65GRD) ** 78th Tank Brigade * 22nd Army ** 93rd Rifle Corps (219, 379, 391 Rifle Divisions) ** 130th Rifle Corps ( 43rd Guards Rifle Division,

308th Rifle Division The 308th Rifle Division was a rifle division of the Soviet Red Army during World War II. The division was formed three separate times during the course of the war. First Formation The 308th Rifle Division first started forming on 25 December 1 ...

) ** 37th Rifle Division, 155FR, 118TB * 42nd Army ** 110th Rifle Corps ( 2, 168, 268RD) **124th Rifle Corps ( 48th, 123rd, 256th Rifle Divisions) **118FR, 29GTB * 15th Air Army ** 14th Fighter Aviation Corps (4, 148, 293 Fighter Aviation Regiments), **188th Bomber Aviation Division, **214th Assault Aviation Division **225 Assault AvD ** 284th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Division ** 313th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Division *Front Reserve **

5th Tank Corps Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a contagious rash th ...

(24, 41, 70TB, 5MotRB)

Commanders

*Colonel-General

Markian Popov Markian Mikhaylovich Popov (; 1902–1969) was a Soviet military commander, Army General (26 August 1943), and Hero of the Soviet Union (1965). Early life Markian Popov was born in 1902 in Ust-Medvediskaya in the Don Host Oblast (now Volgograd ...

(10.43 to 04.1944), *Army General

Andrey Yeryomenko , birth_date = , death_date = , image = Маршал Советского Союза Герой Советского Союза Андрей Иванович Ерёменко (cropped).jpg , image_size = , caption = Y ...

(04.1944 to 02.1945), *Marshal

Leonid Govorov Leonid Aleksandrovich Govorov (russian: Леони́д Алекса́ндрович Го́воров; – 19 March 1955) was a Soviet military commander. Trained as an artillery officer, he joined the Red Army in 1920. He graduated from several ...

(02.1945 to 03.1945). {{Fronts of the Red Army in World War II Baltic 2 Military units and formations established in 1943