Soviet Southwestern Front

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The Southwestern Front was a Front of the Soviet Army during the Second World War. This sense of the term is not identical with the more general usage of military front which indicates a geographic area in wartime, although a Soviet Front may operate within designated boundaries.

The Southwestern Front describes several distinct organizations during the war. The first version was created on June 22, 1941 from the Kiev Special Military District. The western boundary of the front in June 1941 was 865 km long, from the Pripyat River 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 on the Black Sea.

Operational History

The Southwestern Front was on the main axis of attack by the German Army Group South during Operation Barbarossa. At the outbreak of war with Germany, the Front contained the Soviet 5th, 6th, 26th, and 12th Armies along the frontier. These forces took part in the tank battles in western Ukraine and were surrounded and destroyed at Uman and Kiev in August and September 1941. The Front was immediately reestablished with new forces. 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.

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 F. Ia. Kostenko (December 1941-April 1942)
Lieutenant General Nikolai F. Vatutin [promoted to Colonel General in December 1942] (October 1942-March 1943)
Colonel General Rodion Ia. Malinovsky (March 1943-October 1943)

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