Soviet Western Front
Encyclopedia
Front (Soviet Army)
A front was a major military organization in the Soviet Army during many wars. It was roughly equivalent to an army group in the militaries of most other countries except Germany...
of the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
, one of the Red Army Fronts during the Second World War. This sense of the term is different from the more general usage of military front which indicates a geographic area in wartime, although a Soviet Front usually operates within designated boundaries.
The Western Front was created on June 22, 1941 from the Western Special Military District (which before July 1940 was known as Belorussian Special Military District). The first Front Commander was Dmitry Pavlov
Dmitry Pavlov
Dmitry Grigorevich Pavlov was a Soviet general who commanded the key Soviet Western Front during the initial days of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, or Operation Barbarossa, in June 1941. After his forces were heavily defeated in the first days of the campaign, he was relieved of his...
(continuing from his position as District Commander since June 1940).
The western boundary of the Front in June 1941 was 470 km long, from the southern border of Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
to the Pripyat River
Pripyat River
The Pripyat River or Prypiat River is a river in Eastern Europe, approximately long. It flows east through Ukraine, Belarus, and Ukraine again, draining into the Dnieper....
and the town of Włodawa. It connected with the adjacent North-Western Front
North-Western Front
The Northwestern Front was a military formation of the Red Army during the Winter War and World War II. It was operational with the 7th and 13th Armies during the Winter War. It was re-created on June 22, 1941, the first day of the Soviet-German War on the basis of the Baltic Special Military...
, which extended from the Lithuanian border to the Baltic Sea, and the Southwestern Front
Soviet Southwestern Front
The Southwestern Front was a name given to a Front by the Imperial Russian Army during the First World War, by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic during the Russian Civil War, and by the Red Army during the Second World War.The Southwestern Front in this article describes several...
in the Ukraine.
Defeat on the Frontiers
The 1939 partition of Poland according to the Molotov-Ribbentrop PactMolotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
established a new western border with no permanent defense installations, and the army deployment within the Front created weak flanks.
The Western Front was on the main axis of attack by the German Army Group Centre
Army Group Centre
Army Group Centre was the name of two distinct German strategic army groups that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. The first Army Group Centre was created on 22 June 1941, as one of three German Army formations assigned to the invasion of the Soviet Union...
during Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
. At the outbreak of war with Germany, the front included the 3rd Army, Soviet 4th Army, and 10th Army
10th Army (Soviet Union)
The 10th Army of the Soviet Union's Red Army was a field army active from 1939 to 1944.The Army was formed in September 1939 in the Moscow Military District, and then deployed to the Western Special Military District...
along the frontier. The 13th Army
13th Army (Soviet Union)
The 13th Army was a name given to several field armies of the Soviet Union's Red Army, first created during the Russian Civil War...
initially existed as a headquarters unit only, with no assigned forces.
The major forces of the Soviet Western Front were concentrated in the Białystok salient. The front fielded 10th Army
10th Army (Soviet Union)
The 10th Army of the Soviet Union's Red Army was a field army active from 1939 to 1944.The Army was formed in September 1939 in the Moscow Military District, and then deployed to the Western Special Military District...
, supported by the 6th Mechanized Corps and 13th Mechanised Corps which defended the Białystok salient and the 4th Army supported by the 14th Mechanised Corps to its left anchored on the Brest-Litovsk fortress
Brest, Belarus
Brest , formerly also Brest-on-the-Bug and Brest-Litovsk , is a city in Belarus at the border with Poland opposite the city of Terespol, where the Bug River and Mukhavets rivers meet...
with the 3rd Army supported by the 11th Mechanized Corps to the right at the Grodno fortified region. 13th Army
13th Army (Soviet Union)
The 13th Army was a name given to several field armies of the Soviet Union's Red Army, first created during the Russian Civil War...
with the 20th Mechanised and 4th Airborne Corps was in reserve at Minsk
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
with the 17th Mechanized Corps slightly further forward at Slonim
Slonim
Slonim is a city in Hrodna Voblast, Belarus, capital of the Slonim District. It is located at the junction of the Shchara and Isa rivers, 143 km southeast of Hrodna. The population in 2008 was 50,800.-Etymology and historical names:...
.
The German Ninth and Fourth Armies of Army Group Centre
Army Group Centre
Army Group Centre was the name of two distinct German strategic army groups that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. The first Army Group Centre was created on 22 June 1941, as one of three German Army formations assigned to the invasion of the Soviet Union...
penetrated the border north and south of the Białystok salient. The Front's tanks and aviation at airfields were annihilated by German air strikes.
Attempted counterattacks on 24 June 1941 were fruitless. Almost without any interference from Soviet fighters, Fliegerkorps VIII's
8th Air Corps (Germany)
VIII. FliegerkorpsFor more details see Luftwaffe Organization was formed 19 July 1939 in Oppeln as Fliegerführer z.b.V. The abbreviation z.b.V. is German and stands for zur besonderen Verwendung . Fliegerführer z.b.V was renamed to VIII. Fliegerkorps on 10 November 1939...
close support aircraft were able to break the backbone of Western Front's counter-attack at Grodno. 6th Cavalry Corps was so badly mauled by this aerial onslaught against its columns that it was unable to deploy for attack. Jagdgeschwader 53
Jagdgeschwader 53
Jagdgeschwader 53 Pik-As was a Luftwaffe fighter-wing of World War II. It operated in Western Europe and in the Mediterranean.Jagdgeschwader 53 - or as it was better known, the "Pik As" Geschwader - was one of the oldest German fighter units of World War II with its origins going back to 1937...
's Hermann Neuhoff
Hermann Neuhoff
Hermann Neuhoff was a German Luftwaffe ace and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during World War II. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. On 10 April 1942 he was shot down during combat over...
recalled:
In the evening of 25 June, the German 47th Panzer Corps cut between Slonim
Slonim
Slonim is a city in Hrodna Voblast, Belarus, capital of the Slonim District. It is located at the junction of the Shchara and Isa rivers, 143 km southeast of Hrodna. The population in 2008 was 50,800.-Etymology and historical names:...
and Vawkavysk, forcing the attempted withdrawal of troops in the salient to avoid encirclement and opening the southern approaches to Minsk. On 27 June 1941, German Panzergruppe 2 and Panzergruppe 3 striking from south and north linked up near Minsk, surrounding and eventually destroying the 3rd Soviet Army
Soviet Third Army
The 3rd Army was a Soviet Red Army field army during World War II.The 3rd Army was formed in 1939 in the Belorussian Special Military District from the Vitebsk Army Group. The Third Army saw its first action in September 1939, taking part in the operation in Belarus and Poland. In the operation,...
and 10th Soviet Army, 13th Soviet Army, and portions of the 4th Soviet Army
Soviet Fourth Army
The 4th Army was a Soviet field army of World War II that served on the Eastern front of World War II and in the Caucasus during the Cold War.It was disbanded after the fall of the Soviet Union, with its divisions being withdrawn to Russia and disbanded....
, in total about 20 divisions, while the remainder of the Fourth Army fell back eastwards toward the Berezina River
Berezina River
The Berezina is a river in Belarus and a tributary of the Dnieper River.The Berezina Preserve by the river is in the UNESCO list of Biosphere Preserves.-Historical significance:...
.
On 28 June 1941, the Ninth and Fourth German Armies linked east of Białystok splitting the encircled Soviet forces into two pockets: a larger Białystok pocket containing the 10th Army
10th Army (Soviet Union)
The 10th Army of the Soviet Union's Red Army was a field army active from 1939 to 1944.The Army was formed in September 1939 in the Moscow Military District, and then deployed to the Western Special Military District...
and a smaller Navahrudak pocket. Ultimately, in 17 days the Soviet Western Front lost 420,000 personnel from a total of 625,000.
The Front commander, General of the Army
General of the Army
General of the Army is a military rank used in some countries to denote a senior military leader, usually a General in command of a nation's Army. It may also be the title given to a General who commands an Army in the field....
Dmitri G. Pavlov
Dmitry Pavlov
Dmitry Grigorevich Pavlov was a Soviet general who commanded the key Soviet Western Front during the initial days of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, or Operation Barbarossa, in June 1941. After his forces were heavily defeated in the first days of the campaign, he was relieved of his...
, and the Front Staff were recalled to Moscow. There they were accused of intentional disorganization of defense and retreat without battle, sentenced as traitors, and executed. The families of the traitors were repressed according to NKVD Order no. 00486. This order dealt with families of traitors of Motherland. (They were rehabilitated in 1956.)
Assault on Moscow
The command was transferred to Acting Commander Andrei YeremenkoAndrei Yeremenko
Andrey Ivanovich Yeryomenko or Yeremenko or Eremenko was a Soviet general during World War II, Marshal of the Soviet Union.-Draft and early service:...
, and later to Marshal Semyon Timoshenko
Semyon Timoshenko
Semyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko was a Soviet military commander and senior professional officer of the Red Army at the beginning of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.-Early life:...
in July 1941, briefly before newly promoted Colonel General Ivan Konev
Ivan Konev
Ivan Stepanovich Konev , was a Soviet military commander, who led Red Army forces on the Eastern Front during World War II, retook much of Eastern Europe from occupation by the Axis Powers, and helped in the capture of Germany's capital, Berlin....
took over in September. The Front took part in the fierce Battle of Smolensk (1941)
Battle of Smolensk (1941)
The Battle of Smolensk was a largely successful encirclement operation by the German Army Group Centre's 2nd Panzer Group led by Heinz Guderian and the 3rd Panzer Group led by Hermann Hoth against parts of four Soviet Fronts during World War II...
, which managed to disrupt the German blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg
For other uses of the word, see: Blitzkrieg Blitzkrieg is an anglicized word describing all-motorised force concentration of tanks, infantry, artillery, combat engineers and air power, concentrating overwhelming force at high speed to break through enemy lines, and, once the lines are broken,...
for two months.
When Zhukov took over on 10 October, the Soviet Reserve Front
Soviet Reserve Front
The Reserve Front was a Front, or roughly Army group-sized military formation, of the Soviet Army during the Second World War.-First Formation:...
had just been disbanded and its forces incorporated into Western Front, but given the pounding that Soviet forces had suffered, the force numbered only 90,000 men. 16th Army (Soviet Union)
16th Army (Soviet Union)
The 16th Army was a Soviet field army active from 1940 to 1945.-First Formation, 16th Army:Before Operation Barbarossa, HQ 16th Army was formed in July 1940 in the Transbaikal Military District . General Lieutenant М. F. Лукин took command...
under Konstantin Rokossovsky
Konstantin Rokossovsky
Konstantin Rokossovskiy was a Polish-origin Soviet career officer who was a Marshal of the Soviet Union, as well as Marshal of Poland and Polish Defence Minister, who was famously known for his service in the Eastern Front, where he received high esteem for his outstanding military skill...
held at Volokolamsk
Volokolamsk
Volokolamsk is a town and the administrative center of Volokolamsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Gorodenka River, not far from its confluence with the Lama River, northwest of Moscow. Population: -History:...
, and General L.A. Govorov had 5th Army, recently raised from 1st Guards Rifle Corps, and soon to include the Soviet 32nd Rifle Division at Mozhaisk. The 43rd Army was under General K.D. Golubev at Maloyaroslavets, and the 49th Army was near Kaluga under General I.G. Zakharin. 49th Army had been formed in August 1941 and initially assigned to Reserve Front. On 1 September 1941 49th Army comprised 194th, 220th, and 248th Rifle Divisions, and 4th Division of People's Militia. Meanwhile 33rd Army
33rd Army (Soviet Union)
The Red Army's 33rd Army was a Soviet field army during the Second World War. It was disbanded by being redesignated HQ Smolensk Military District in 1945.-Initial Operations:...
was forming at Naro-Fominsk
Naro-Fominsk
Naro-Fominsk is a town and the administrative center of Naro-Fominsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, situated southwest from Moscow, on the Nara River. The Moscow – Kiev railway passes through the town. Population: -History:...
under General Lieutenant M.G. Yefremov, and was to be assigned to Zhukov's command.
The Soviets just managed to halt the German advance in the Battle of Moscow
Battle of Moscow
The Battle of Moscow is the name given by Soviet historians to two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between October 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive effort frustrated Hitler's attack on Moscow, capital of...
, leading to further furious fighting in the Battles of Rzhev
Battles of Rzhev
Rzhev Battles is a general term for a series of World War II offensives launched during January 8, 1942—March 31, 1943 by the Soviet Red Army in the general directions of Rzhev, Sychevka and Vyazma against a German salient in the vicinity of Moscow, known as the "Rzhev meat grinder" for...
just to the west. In May 1942 the Front's air forces became the 1st Air Army
1st Air Army
The 1st Air Army was an Air Army in the Soviet Air Force which served during World War II. It was formed on May 10, 1942 within the Soviet Western Front, and renamed the 26th Air Army on January 10, 1949 in the Belorussian Military District....
.
The Front appears to have controlled the three armies - the 5th Army, 33rd Army
33rd Army (Soviet Union)
The Red Army's 33rd Army was a Soviet field army during the Second World War. It was disbanded by being redesignated HQ Smolensk Military District in 1945.-Initial Operations:...
, and 10th Guards Army
10th Guards Army (Soviet Union)
The 10th Guards Army was a Soviet Guards formation which fought against Germany during World War II under the command of several generals. Formed in 1943, the army fought under various headquarters and ended the war besieging cut-off German forces in Latvia...
- which formed the assault force in the Battle of Smolensk (1943)
Battle of Smolensk (1943)
The second Battle of Smolensk was a Soviet strategic offensive operation conducted by the Red Army as part of the Summer-Autumn Campaign of 1943...
.
On 24 April 1944, the Front was divided into the 2nd Belorussian Front
2nd Belorussian Front
The 2nd Belorussian Front was a military formation of Army group size of the Soviet Army during the Second World War...
and 3rd Belorussian Front
3rd Belorussian Front
The 3rd Belorussian Front was a Front of the Soviet Army during the Second World War...
.
Status Today
The Russian Ground Troops continue the Soviet Army's organizational arrangement of having Military Districts that have both a wartime territorial administration role and the capability to generate formation headquarters (HQs) to command Fronts. This was emphasized by reports of a Moscow Military District exercise in April 2001, when the district's units were to be divided into two groups, ‘one operating for the western front and the other for the wartime military district’.It appears likely that the Western Front is still an active formation held within the Headquarters of the Moscow Military District. Plans probably call for it to be mobilised as part of the Russia-Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
Regional Grouping of Troops (Forces).
Commanders During World War II
- General of the ArmyGeneral of the ArmyGeneral of the Army is a military rank used in some countries to denote a senior military leader, usually a General in command of a nation's Army. It may also be the title given to a General who commands an Army in the field....
Dmitri G. PavlovDmitry PavlovDmitry Grigorevich Pavlov was a Soviet general who commanded the key Soviet Western Front during the initial days of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, or Operation Barbarossa, in June 1941. After his forces were heavily defeated in the first days of the campaign, he was relieved of his...
(June 1941: executed) - Marshal Semyon K. TimoshenkoSemyon TimoshenkoSemyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko was a Soviet military commander and senior professional officer of the Red Army at the beginning of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.-Early life:...
(July 1941-September 1941) - Lt. General Ivan S. KonevIvan KonevIvan Stepanovich Konev , was a Soviet military commander, who led Red Army forces on the Eastern Front during World War II, retook much of Eastern Europe from occupation by the Axis Powers, and helped in the capture of Germany's capital, Berlin....
[promoted to Colonel General in September 1941] (September 1941-October 1941; August 1942-February 1943) - General Georgy K. ZhukovGeorgy ZhukovMarshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov , was a Russian career officer in the Red Army who, in the course of World War II, played a pivotal role in leading the Red Army through much of Eastern Europe to liberate the Soviet Union and other nations from the Axis Powers' occupation...
(October 1941-August 1942) - Colonel General V.D. SokolovskyVasily SokolovskyVasily Danilovich Sokolovsky was a Soviet military commander.Sokolovsky was born into a peasant family in Kozliki, a small town in the province of Grodno, near Białystok in Poland . He worked as a teacher in a rural school, where he took part in a number of protests and demonstrations against the...
[promoted to full General in August 1943] (February 1943-April 1944: relieved for dereliction of duty)