In a military context, the termfront can have several meanings. According to officialUS Department of Defense andNATO definitions, a front can be "the line of contact of two opposing forces."[1] Thisfront line can be a local ortactical front, or it can range to atheater. An example of the latter was theWestern Front inFrance andBelgium inWorld War I.
Relatedly, front can refer to the direction of the enemy or, in the absence of combat, the direction towards which amilitary unit is facing.[1] 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 ofmatériel.
Front can also refer to the lateral space occupied by a military unit as measured from the extremity of oneflank to the other.[1] 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 theSoviet Army and those which copied it, the amount front occupied by an attacking unit depended on its size. Adivision attacking with threeregiments 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 and 8 kilometers. This frontage decreased with each smaller unit involved: 2 to 3 kilometers for abattalion, 500 to 800 meters for acompany, and 100 to 200 meters for aplatoon.[2]
Additionally, the Soviet Army used the term "front" to mean anarmy group; thePolish Armies used the same terminology during thePolish-Soviet War andWorld War II.
