In a military context, the term front can have several meanings. According to official
US Department of Defense and
NATO definitions, a front can be "the line of contact of two opposing forces."
[Leonard, B. (2011). Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms: As Amended Through April 2010. (n.p.): DIANE Publishing Company. p. 193] This
front line
A front line (alternatively front-line or frontline) in military terminology is the position(s) closest to the area of conflict of an armed force's personnel and equipment, usually referring to land forces. When a front (an intentional or uninte ...
can be a local or
tactical
Tactic(s) or Tactical may refer to:
* Tactic (method), a conceptual action implemented as one or more specific tasks
** Military tactics, the disposition and maneuver of units on a particular sea or battlefield
** Chess tactics
** Political tacti ...
front, or it can range to a
theater. An example of the latter was 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 ...
in
France and
Belgium in
World War I.
Relatedly, front can refer to the direction of the enemy or, in the absence of combat, the direction towards which a
military unit
Military organization or military organisation is the structuring of the armed forces of a state so as to offer such military capability as a national defense policy may require. In some countries paramilitary forces are included in a nation' ...
is facing.
[ Conversely, the term " home front" has been used to denote conditions in the civilian sector of a country at war, including those involved in the production of ]matériel
Materiel (; ) refers to supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commercial supply chain context.
In a military context, the term ''materiel'' refers either to the specific ...
.
Front can also refer to the lateral space occupied by a military unit as measured from the extremity of one flank to the other.[ The amount of front occupied by a unit depends on many factors, including time period and available technology. For example, under the military doctrine of the Soviet Army and those which copied it, the amount front occupied by an attacking unit depended on its size. A division attacking with three regiments in the first echelon would maintain an attack zone of 15 to 25 kilometers wide. A regiment's front was typically 4 to 5 kilometers wide, but could vary between 3 to 8 kilometers. This frontage decreased with each smaller unit involved: 2 to 3 kilometers for a battalion, 500 to 800 meters for a ]company
A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...
, and 100 to 200 meters for a platoon.[FM 5-34 Engineer Field Data. Department of the Army. 30 August 1999. Threat 2-11]
Additionally, the Soviet Army used the term "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 ...
" to mean an 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 by ...
; the Polish Armies
The following is a list of Polish Armies during World War II, together with their commanders and brigade and division-sized units. For a more detailed list see: Polish army order of battle in 1939.
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, -
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used the same terminology during the Polish-Soviet War and World War II.
The term "front line city" was used by the Germans during their long retreat from Moscow/Stalingrad to refer to metropolitan centres that had become disputed by the two combatants. Designation of a city as such resulted in administrative changes (largely the imposition of martial law). In the film '' Downfall'', the term was briefly referenced.
See also
* Rear (military)
References
Military organization
Military geography
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