TheSouthern Front was afront, a formation about the size of anarmy group of theSoviet Army during theSecond World War. The Southern Front directed military operations during theSoviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina in 1940 and then was formed twice after the June 1941 invasion by Germany, codenamedOperation Barbarossa.
During the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina in 1940, the Soviets deployed three armies (12th,5th and9th).[1] Altogether the Soviet Southern Front opposing Bessarabia and Bukovina consisted of 32 (or 31) rifle divisions, 2 (or 3) motorised rifle divisions, 6 cavalry divisions, 11 tank brigades, 3 airborne brigades (one in reserve), 14 corps artillery regiments, 16 artillery regiments of theReserve of the Supreme High Command and 4 heavy artillery divisions. These force totalled around 460,000 men, ca. 12,000 guns and mortars, ca. 3,000 tanks and 2,160 aircraft.
After the German invasion, the Southern Front was re-created on June 25, 1941 from the forces in theMoscow andOdessa Military Districts, and included the9th Army. From July 1941 the44th Fighter Aviation Division was part of the Front's air forces. It was commanded byGeneral Ivan V. Tiulenev from June 1941 to August 1941. Lieutenant GeneralDmitri I. Ryabyshev took over on 30 August 1941 and held command until 5 October, when Colonel GeneralYakov Cherevichenko took command, until December 1941. During 1941 the Front fought in the border battles in the southern Ukraine, defendedOdessa, and then conducted the defense and successful counteroffensive atRostov-on-Don.[2]
Lieutenant GeneralRodion Ia. Malinovsky arrived in December and held the reins until July 1942. In 1942 the Front took part in the Donbass, Barvenko-Lozovaia, andVoronezh-Stalingrad (Volgograd) operations. According to Glantz and Bonn, the Front then suffered a notable failure at theSecond Battle of Kharkov.[2] The Front received additional forces from the (disbanded)Southwestern Front on July 12, 1942 and was formally disbanded on July 28, 1942, with the forces transferred to theNorth Caucasus Front.
In July 1942, three armies (the 1st, 5th and 7th Reserve Armies) out of the Supreme High Command reserve were moved into the Stalingrad sector and redesignated the64th,63rd and62nd armies respectively. They formed the core of the Stalingrad Front on 12 July. The Stalingrad Front was then divided into the Stalingrad Front, under General Lieutenant V.N. Gordov, and the Southeastern Front, under Colonel General Andrei I. Yeremenko on 7 August 1942 as theBattle of Stalingrad began. Stalin had actually taken the decision to split the two fronts on 3 August at 0300 despite protest from his advisors.[3] The Tsaritsa gully in Stalingrad was the dividing line. Yeremenko's new South-Eastern Front included the51st, 57th, and 64th Armies. They were then re-transformed into the Don and Southwestern Fronts on 28 September with the Southeastern Front becoming the Stalingrad Front (Second Formation).[4]
The Southern Front was re-formed from the Stalingrad Front on January 1, 1943, andColonel General Andrei I. Yeremenko stayed in command, until February 1943. General Lieutenant Rodion Malinovsky [promoted to Colonel General in February 1943] then filled in untilLieutenant General Fyodor I. Tolbukhin took command in March 1943. Tolbukhin was promoted to Colonel General in April. He would command the Front into 1944.
On 1 April 1943 Southern Front comprised
Among the Front troops were the
Southern Front was renamed the4th Ukrainian Front on October 20, 1943.