The Far Eastern Front ( Russian: Дальневосточный фронт) was a front — a level of military formation that is equivalent to

army group An army group is a military organization consisting of several field armies, which is self-sufficient for indefinite periods. It is usually responsible for a particular geographic area. An army group is the largest field organization handled ...

— of the

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

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 opposi ...

Early war service

Тhe Far Eastern Front was created on June 28, 1938 from the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army within the

Far East Military District The Far Eastern Military District (russian: Дальневосточный военный округ; Dalʹnevostochnyĭ voennyĭ okrug) was a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In 2010 it was merged with the Pacific ...

. It included the 1st Red Banner Army and the

2nd Red Banner Army The 2nd Red Banner Army () was a Soviet field army of World War II that served as part of the Far Eastern Front. The army was formed at Khabarovsk in the Soviet Far East in 1938 as the 2nd Army. After the Far Eastern Front was split in Septemb ...

. In 1938 Front forces — seemingly the Soviet 32nd Rifle Division of 39th Rifle Corps — engaged Japanese

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 after the Japanese ...

forces at the

Battle of Lake Khasan The Battle of Lake Khasan (29 July – 11 August 1938), also known as the Changkufeng Incident (russian: Хасанские бои, Chinese and Japanese: ; Chinese pinyin: ; Japanese romaji: ) in China and Japan, was an attempted military incu ...

. On the eve of the invasion of the Soviet Union by Germany, the Front comprised: * 1st Red Banner Army ** 26th Rifle Corps *** 21st Rifle Division *** 22nd Rifle Division ***

26th Rifle Division The 26th Rifle Division was a rifle division in the Soviet Red Army during the Russian Civil War, World War II and the Cold War. The division was formed on 3 November 1918 on the Eastern Front (China Border), sent to the Soviet-German Front in ...

** 59th Rifle Corps *** 39th Rifle Division *** 59th Rifle Division ** 1st, 4th, 5th Rifle Brigades ** 8th Cavalry Division ** One

fortified region A fortified district or fortified region (russian: Укреплённый район, Укрепрайон, ukreplyonny raion, ukrepraion) in the military terminology of the Soviet Union, is a territory within which a complex system of defense fo ...

, artillery, engineers *

** 3rd Rifle Division ** 12th Amurskaya Rifle Division ** 59th Tank Division ** 69th Mechanized Division ** One fortified region, artillery, engineers * 15th Army ** 18th Rifle Corps *** 34th Rifle Division *** 202nd Airborne Brigade ** One fortified region, artillery, engineers * 25th Army ** 39th Rifle Corps *** 32nd Rifle Division ***

40th Rifle Division The 40th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army during World War II. It gained the honorific "named for Sergo Ordzhonikidze" on 14 April 1937. It fought in the engagements at Lake Khasan. On 22 June 1941, it was part of the 39th ...

*** 92nd Rifle Division ** Five fortified regions, artillery, and engineers * Special Rifle Corps ** 79th Rifle Division ** 101st Mountain Rifle Division * 35th Rifle Division *

66th Rifle Division 066 may refer to: * Air France Flight 066 * Uncial 066 * 0-6-6 type of locomotive See also * 66 (disambiguation) {{numberdis ...

* 78th Rifle Division * Three fortified regions, artillery, engineers

War against Japan

On August 5, 1945, the Front was divided and reorganized as the 1st Far Eastern Front and 2nd Far Eastern Front: 2nd Far Eastern Front, under General M. A. Purkayev (aimed at eastern

), including: *

. * 15th Army. * 16th Army. * 10th Air Army. 1st Far Eastern Front, under Marshal K. A. Meretskov (aimed at northern Manchukuo), including: * 1st Red Banner Army. * 5th Army. * 25th Army. * 35th Army *

9th Air Army The 9th Air Army was a military formation of the Soviet Air Forces, active from August 1942 until April 1957, which operated in the Far East. History It was formed on August 15, 1942 after an order of the NPO of the USSR of July 27, 1942 on the ...

* Chuguevsk Operational Group. * Amur River Flotilla.

Transbaikal Front The Transbaikal Front (russian: Забайкальский фронт) was a front formed on September 15, 1941, on the basis of the Transbaikal Military District. Initially, it included the 17th and 36th armies, but in August 1942 the 12th Air ...

included the 12th Air Army. In the

Soviet invasion of Manchuria The Soviet invasion of Manchuria, formally known as the Manchurian strategic offensive operation (russian: Манчжурская стратегическая наступательная операция, Manchzhurskaya Strategicheskaya Nastu ...

it led the attack into Japanese-occupied

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer M ...

. Although the

Kwantung Army ''Kantō-gun'' , image = Kwantung Army Headquarters.JPG , image_size = 300px , caption = Kwantung Army headquarters in Hsinking, Manchukuo , dates = April ...

of the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emper ...

had more than 1 million soldiers, the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

ese defenders were overwhelmed by the offensive. Allied forces of

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million ...

and

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

's Nationalist China aided the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

operation. On August 19, the Far East Front continued its routing of the Kwantung Army by capturing

Harbin Harbin (; mnc, , v=Halbin; ) is a sub-provincial city and the provincial capital and the largest city of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, as well as the second largest city by urban population after Shenyang and largest c ...

and

Mukden Shenyang (, ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly known as Fengtian () or by its Manchu name Mukden, is a major Chinese sub-provincial city and the provincial capital of Liaoning province. Located in central-north Liaoning, it is the provinc ...

. By August 21, the

had captured almost all of

, and the final surrender of the Kwantung Army took place. On August 11 to 12, 1945, the

87th Rifle Corps The 87th Rifle Corps () was a rifle corps of the Red Army during World War II and the Soviet Army in the early years of the Cold War. World War II On 10 July 1945 it comprised 231st and 300th Rifle Divisions as part of 1st Red Banner Army, ...

was brought out from the reserve of the 1st Far Eastern Front, and received new orders to prepare for landing operations on the island of Hokkaido (Japan); however, the planned operation never took place, although elements of the 87th Corps participated in other operations against Japanese forces in the theatre. On September 30, 1945, the Primorskiy (Maritime Provinces) Military District was formed on the territory of

Primorsky Krai Primorsky Krai (russian: Приморский край, r=Primorsky kray, p=prʲɪˈmorskʲɪj kraj), informally known as Primorye (, ), is a federal subject (a krai) of Russia, located in the Far East region of the country and is a part of t ...

(territory of the former Ussuri Oblast), from HQ 1st Far East Front.

Commanders

Marshal of the Soviet Union Marshal of the Soviet Union (russian: Маршал Советского Союза, Marshal sovetskogo soyuza, ) was the highest military rank of the Soviet Union. The rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union was created in 1935 and abolished in 19 ...

Vasily K. Blukher (1 July – 4 September, 1938) * Komkor Grigori M. Shtern (August 1938; July 1940 – January 1941) *

Colonel General Colonel general is a three- or four-star military rank used in some armies. It is particularly associated with Germany, where historically general officer ranks were one grade lower than in the Commonwealth and the United States, and was a ra ...

Iosif R. Apanasenko romoted to Army General in February 1941(January 1941 – April 1943) * Colonel General Maxim A. Purkaev romoted to Army General in October 1944(April 1943 – August 1945)

Notes

External links

David Glantz David M. Glantz (born January 11, 1942) is an American military historian known for his books on the Red Army during World War II and as the chief editor of '' The Journal of Slavic Military Studies''. Born in Port Chester, New York, Glantz re ...

, ''Stumbling Colossus'', University Press of Kansas, 1998 (for 1941 order of battle) {{Fronts of the Red Army in World War II Far East Front Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 History of the Russian Far East de:1. Fernostfront