The 3rd Baltic Front () was a front of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It was set up on 21 April 1944 and disbanded on 16 October that year after a series of campaigns in the

Baltic states The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

that culminated with the capture of

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

October 13–15, 1944. During 179 days of existence, the 3rd Baltic Front suffered 43,155 killed and missing in action as well as 153,876 wounded, sick, and frostbitten personnel. The sole commander of the 3rd Baltic Front was Ivan Maslennikov. The headquarters of the 3rd Baltic Front was formed from that of the disbanded 20th Army, and the field armies subordinated to the front were taken from the left (south) wing of the

Leningrad Front The Leningrad Front () was formed during the 1941 German approach on Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) by dividing the Northern Front into the Leningrad Front and Karelian Front on August 27, 1941. History The Leningrad Front was immediately ...

. Operations that the 3rd Baltic Front took part in include the Pskov-Ostrov Operation and the Tartu Operation. Upon the capture of Riga, the Soviet high command disbanded the 3rd Baltic Front as a headquarters and reassigned its component armies.John Erickson, ''The Road to Berlin'', p. 420, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999.

Citations and Sources

Baltic 3 {{Soviet-stub