Front (military formation)


A front is a type of military formation that originated in the Russian Empire, and has been used by the Polish Army, the Red Army, the Soviet Army, and Turkey. It is roughly equivalent to an army group in the military of most other countries. It varies in size but in general contains three to five armies. It should not be confused with the more general usage of military front, describing a geographic area in wartime.

Russian Empire

After the outbreak of the First World War, the Russian General Headquarters set up two Fronts: Northwestern Front, uniting forces deployed against German Empire, and Southwestern Front, uniting forces deployed against Austria-Hungary.
In August 1915, Northwestern Front was split into Northern Front and Western Front.
At the end of 1916 Romanian Front was established, which also included remnants of the Romanian army.
In April 1917, Caucasus Front was established by the reorganization of the Caucasus Army.

Soviet fronts in the Russian Civil War

The Soviet fronts were first raised during the Russian Civil War. They were wartime organizations only, in the peacetime the fronts were normally disbanded and their armies organized back into military districts.
Usually a single district formed a single front at the start of the hostilities, or when hostilities were anticipated. Some military districts could not form a front. Fronts were also formed during the Polish-Soviet War of 1920.
The main fronts during the Russian Civil War and Polish-Soviet War were :
An interesting and important distinction between army groups and fronts is that a Soviet front typically had its own army-sized tactical fixed-wing air organization. This air army was directly subordinated to the front commander. The reason for that is in the Soviet military doctrine. With the reform of 1935 it was established that in case of a war the peacetime military districts on the border would split upon mobilisation each into a Front Command and a Military District Command. In that sense the Air Armies were under Air Force command in peacetime, but under the command of the Frontal HQs in wartime and the Fronts were commanded by Ground Forces generals. The entire front might report either to the Stavka or to a theatre of military operations. A Front was mobilised for a specific operation, after which it could be reformed and tasked with another operation or it could be disbanded with its formations dispersed among the other active Fronts and its HQ reintegrated into its original Military District HQ.
The Soviet and Russian military doctrine calls the different levels in the command chain Organs of Military Control.
LevelPeacetimePeacetime and wartimeFunctionExamples
Highest political controlMain Military Council Stavka of the Supreme Main Command
  • General Staff
Exercises supreme party control over the armed forces. It could best be considered as the office for military matters of the head of state. During World War I this was the Stavka of the Supreme Commander aiding Tsar Nicholas II. During World War II this was the Stavka of the Supreme Main Command aiding Joseph Stalin, who took precedence over it after the launch of the German invasion into the Soviet Union.
Highest military controlGeneral Staff Stavka of the Supreme Main Command
  • General Staff
    		• In wartime the General Staff became a department of the Stavka.
    StrategicalMain Command of the Troops of a Strategic Direction The Main Command of the Troops of a Strategic Direction were organised in wartime in 1941 – 42, each to take control over several Fronts, Fleets, Separate Armies and / or Flotillas.In 1979 in the years of high confrontation between the countries of the Western liberal democracies and those of the Socialist Bloc the Main Commands of the Troops of a Strategic Directions were reinstated covertly:
    • Main Command of the Troops of the Western Direction in Legnica
    • Main Command of the Troops of the South-Western Direction in Chișinău
    • Main Command of the Troops of the Southern Direction in Baku and the
    • Main Command of the Troops in the Far East in Ulan-Ude.
    		Main Command of the Troops of the North-Western Direction. Existed between 10 July and 27 August 1941 under the command of Marshal of the Soviet Union Kliment Voroshilov. It commanded the:
    • Northern and Northwestern Fronts and the Northern and the Baltic Fleets.
    Main Command of the Troops of the Western Direction
    . Existed between 10 July and 10 September 1941 under the command of Marshal of the Soviet Union Semyon Timoshenko. It commanded the:
    • Western, Central and Reserve Fronts and the Pinsk Flotilla.
    Main Command of the Troops of the South-Western Direction
    . Existed between 10 July 1941 and 21 June 1942 under the command of initially Marshal of the Soviet Union Semyon Budyonny, since September 1941 of Marshal of the Soviet Union Semyon Timoshenko. It commanded the:
    Main Command of the Troops of the North Caucasus Direction
    . Existed between 21 April and 19 May 1942 under the command of Marshal of the Soviet Union Semyon Budyonny. It commanded the:
    Main Command of the Soviet Troops in the Far East
    . Existed between 30 July and 17 December 1945 under the command of Marshal of the Soviet Union Aleksandr Vasilevsky. It commanded the:
    Operational-StrategicalMilitary district FRONT The Military Districts were high military commands in charge of the combat readiness of troops, training centers and schools, support to the security services in cases of insurrections and to the population in case of disasters. Initially a distinction was made between border and internal MDs. With a decree of the People's Commissariat for Defence dated 17 May 1935 the border districts were further divided between first line and second line MDs. A provision was put in force, grouping a first-line district with two second-line districts, according to which in wartime the first-line MD would form a Frontal HQ and the rear districts would prepare replacements for it. This grouping was called a "Strategic Direction". Another decree of the PCD from 13 August 1940 introduced further changes in the war plans. The distinction between first and second line border districts was abolished. The 16 Military Districts were divided between 8 districts bordering potential enemy states, which would in case of a war form Frontal HQs and 8 internal MD, which would form Separate Army commands.
    Operational-StrategicalNone in peacetimeSeparate Army
    OperationalNone in peacetimeArmy
    Operational-TacticalNone in peacetimeSeparate Corps
    Operational-TacticalCorpsCorps
    TacticalSeparate DivisionSeparate Division
    TacticalDivisionDivision
    Tactical Brigade Brigade
    The degree of change in the structure and performance of individual fronts can only be understood when seen in the context of the strategic operations of the Red Army in World War II.
    Soviet fronts in the European Theatre during the Second World War from 1941 to 1945:
    For constituent armies see List of Soviet armies.

    Soviet fronts after World War II

    The Soviet Army maintained contingencies for establishing fronts in the event of war. During the Cold War, fronts and their staffs became groups of Soviet forces in the Warsaw Pact organization. The front was to be the highest operational command during wartime. Though there was no front ever established during peacetime the basic building blocks were maintained the established Military Districts. A front generally comprised 3–4 Combined Arms Armies and 1–2 Tank Armies though there was no set organization.

    Poland

    A number of fronts were created by the Second Polish Republic from 1918 to 1939, among them being the Polish Southern Front. See :pl:Kategoria:Fronty polskie. In addition, the creation of a Polish Front was considered to group the First and Second Armies of the Polish Armed Forces in the East in 1944, and during the Warsaw Pact period, a Polish Front was created, seemingly as a mobilization-only organization.

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