The Southwestern Front was a

front Front may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Front'' (1943 film), a 1943 Soviet drama film * ''The Front'', 1976 film Music * The Front (band), an American rock band signed to Columbia Records and active in the 1980s and e ...

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 ...

, formed thrice. It was first created on June 22, 1941 from the

Kiev Special Military District Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...

. The western boundary of the front in June 1941 was 865 km long, from the

Pripyat River The Pripyat or Prypiat ( , uk, Прип'ять, ; be, Прыпяць, translit=Prypiać}, ; pl, Prypeć, ; russian: Припять, ) is a river in Eastern Europe, approximately long. It flows east through Ukraine, Belarus, and Ukraine ag ...

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 Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

on the Black Sea.

Operational history

The Southwestern Front was on the main axis of attack by the German

Army Group South Army Group South (german: Heeresgruppe Süd) was the name of three German Army Groups during World War II. It was first used in the 1939 September Campaign, along with Army Group North to invade Poland. In the invasion of Poland Army Group So ...

during

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...

. At the outbreak of war with Germany, the Front was commanded by

Mikhail Kirponos Mikhail Petrovich Kirponos (russian: Михаи́л Петро́вич Кирпоно́с, uk, Михайло Петрович Кирпонос, ; 12 January 1892 – 20 September 1941) was a Soviet general of the Red Army during World War II. ...

and contained the Soviet 5th, 6th, 26th, and

12th 12 (twelve) is the natural number following 11 and preceding 13. Twelve is a superior highly composite number, divisible by 2, 3, 4, and 6. It is the number of years required for an orbital period of Jupiter. It is central to many systems ...

Armies along the frontier.

16th 16 (sixteen) is the natural number following 15 and preceding 17. 16 is a composite number, and a square number, being 42 = 4 × 4. It is the smallest number with exactly five divisors, its proper divisors being , , and . In English speech, ...

and 19th Armies were in reserve behind the forward forces. These forces took part in the tank battles in western

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

and were surrounded and destroyed at the

Battle of Uman The Battle of Uman (15 July – 8 August 1941) was the World War II German offensive in Uman, Ukraine against the 6th and 12th Soviet Armies. In a three-week period, the Wehrmacht encircled and annihilated the two Soviet armies. The battle occ ...

and the

Battle of Kiev (1941) The First Battle of Kiev was the German name for the operation that resulted in a huge encirclement of Soviet troops in the vicinity of Kiev during World War II. This encirclement is considered the largest encirclement in the history of warfar ...

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 The Battle of Moscow was a military campaign that consisted of two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between September 1941 and January ...

it was under the command of Marshal Timoshenko, and included from north to south the 40th, 21st, 38th and 6th

Armies An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

. 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 The Battle of the Dnieper was a military campaign that took place in 1943 in Ukraine on the Eastern Front of World War II. One of the largest operations of the war, it involved almost 4,000,000 troops at a time stretched on a front. Over four ...

and the

Battle of Kiev (1943) The Second Battle of Kiev was a part of a much wider Soviet offensive in Ukraine known as the Battle of the Dnieper involving three strategic operations by the Soviet Red Army and one operational counterattack by the Wehrmacht, which took pla ...

Southwestern Front on 22 June 1941

Composition Subordinate Front units directly under Commander of the Front:Boevoi Sostav Sovietskoi Armii czast I juni-dekabr 1941 Moskva 1966 page 9 *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 The 199th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army, originally formed as part of the prewar buildup of forces, based on the ''shtat'' (table of organization and equipment) of September 13, 1939. After being formed in the far east of ...

*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 Fyodor Yakovlevich Kostenko (russian: Фёдор Яковлевич Костенко; 22 February 1896–26 May 1942) was a Soviet corps and army commander. Biography He was born in Bolshaya Martynovka, Martynovsky District, Rostov Oblast ...

(December 1941 – April 1942) * Lieutenant General Nikolai F. Vatutin romoted to Colonel General in December 1942(October 1942 – March 1943) * Colonel General Rodion Ia. Malinovsky (March 1943 – October 1943)

Operational history

Southwestern Front on 22 June 1941

Commanders

References and notes

Further reading