The Don Front was a
front of the
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
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, afte ...
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 ...
, which existed between September 1942 and February 1943, and was commanded during its entire existence by
Konstantin Rokossovsky
Konstantin Konstantinovich (Xaverevich) Rokossovsky ( Russian: Константин Константинович Рокоссовский; pl, Konstanty Rokossowski; 21 December 1896 – 3 August 1968) was a Soviet and Polish officer who bec ...
. The name refers to
Don River, Russia
The Don ( rus, Дон, p=don) is the fifth-longest river in Europe. Flowing from Central Russia to the Sea of Azov in Southern Russia, it is one of Russia's largest rivers and played an important role for traders from the Byzantine Empire.
...
.
Formation
The front was created by order of the ''STAVKA'' of the Supreme High Command on Sept. 28, 1942 in order to form a more cohesive command structure to the much-reinforced Soviet forces fighting in and around
Stalingrad. On that date the ''STAVKA'' ordered:
The initial composition of the Don Front was as follows:
*
1st Guards Army -
Kirill Moskalenko
Kirill Semyonovich Moskalenko (russian: Кирилл Семёнович Москаленко, uk, Кирило Семенович Москаленко; May 11, 1902 – June 17, 1985) was a Marshal of the Soviet Union. A member of the Soviet Arm ...
,
*
21st Army -
Nikolay Krylov,
*
24th Army -
Dmitry Timofeyevich Kozlov,
*
63rd Army -
Vasily Kuznetsov,
*
66th Army -
Rodion Malinovsky
Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky (russian: Родио́н Я́ковлевич Малино́вский, ukr, Родіо́н Я́кович Малино́вський ; – 31 March 1967) was a Soviet military commander. He was Marshal of the Sov ...
,
*
4th Tank Army -
Vasily Kryuchenkin,
*
16th Air Army
The 16th Red Banner Air Army (russian: 16-я воздушная Краснознамённая армия) was the most important formation of the Special Purpose Command. Initially formed during the Second World War as a part of the Soviet Air ...
-
Sergei Rudenko.
The command cadre of the new front came almost entirely from Rokossovsky's
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 f ...
, leaders that he trusted and would follow him until he was ordered to take command of
2nd Belorussian Front
The 2nd Belorussian Front ( Russian: Второй Белорусский фронт, alternative spellings are 2nd Byelorussian Front) was a military formation, of Army group size, of the Soviet Army during the Second World War. Soviet army g ...
in late 1944.
[Dr. Boris Sokolov, ''Marshal K.K. Rokossovsky''. Helloin & Company, Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2015, pp 188-89]
On the basis of the STAVKA directive of February 5, 1943, the Don Front was transformed into the
Central Front on February 15, 1943.
References
{{Fronts of the Red Army in World War II
Eastern Front (World War II)
Soviet fronts