The Kalinin Front was a
major formation 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 ...
active in the
Eastern Front of
World War II
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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, named for the city of
Kalinin. It was formally established by
Stavka
The ''Stavka'' ( Russian and Ukrainian: Ставка) is a name of the high command of the armed forces formerly in the Russian Empire, Soviet Union and currently in Ukraine.
In Imperial Russia ''Stavka'' referred to the administrative staff, ...
directive on 17 October 1941 and allocated three armies:
22nd,
29th Army and
30th.
In May 1942, the Air Forces of the Kalinin Front were reorganised as the
3rd Air Army, comprising three fighter, two ground attack, and one bomber division.
In November 1942 the Kalinin Front, along with 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 ...
, launched
Operation Mars against the German defenses in the
Rzhev/Vyaz'ma salient. The
3rd Shock Army
The 3rd Shock Army (russian: Третья ударная армия) was a field army of the Red Army formed during the Second World War. The "Shock" armies were created with the specific structure to engage and destroy significant enemy forces ...
, now allocated to Kalinin Front, started the operation on 24 November by attacking Third Panzer Army at
Velikiye Luki
Velikiye Luki ( rus, Вели́кие Лу́ки, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪjə ˈlukʲɪ; lit. ''great meanders''. Г. П. Смолицкая. "Топонимический словарь Центральной России". "Армада-П ...
, and the next day the Kalinin and Western Fronts assaulted the entire perimeter of the Rzhev salient.
The offensive involved the
41st,
22nd,
39th,
31st,
20th
20 (twenty; Roman numeral XX) is the natural number following 19 and preceding 21. A group of twenty units may also be referred to as a score.
In mathematics
*20 is a pronic number.
*20 is a tetrahedral number as 1, 4, 10, 20.
*20 is the ba ...
, and
29th Armies from both Fronts. The Front was then involved in the
Battle of Velikiye Luki in January–March 1943. The 3rd Air Army supported both the Rzhev/Sychevka and the Velikiye Luki operations, but then appears to have been shifted to
Northwestern Front briefly to cover the Demyansk bridgehead.
During the
Nevel-
Haradok operation, from 6 October—31 December 1943, the Front (which changed names halfway through) consisted of
3rd and
4th Shock,
11th Guards and
43rd Armies, plus the 3rd Air Army. Its initial strength was 198,000 men. The losses amounted to 43,551 dead and missing and 125,351 wounded and sick.
[G. F. Krivosheev, Russia and the USSR in the wars of the 20th century: losses of the Armed Forces. A Statistical Study, (in Russian), via axishistoryforum a]
It was renamed the
1st Baltic Front in October 1943.
Commanders
*Colonel-General
Ivan Konev
Ivan Stepanovich Konev ( rus, link=no, Ива́н Степа́нович Ко́нев, p=ɪˈvan sʲtʲɪˈpanəvʲɪtɕ ˈkonʲɪf; – 21 May 1973) was a Soviet general and Marshal of the Soviet Union who led Red Army forces on the E ...
(October 1941 - August 1942)
*Lieutenant-General, from November 1942, Colonel-General
Maksim Purkayev (August 1942 - April 1943)
*Colonel-General, since August 1943, Army General
Andrey Yeryomenko (April - October 1943)
References
{{Fronts of the Red Army in World War II
Soviet fronts
Military units and formations established in 1941
Military units and formations disestablished in 1943