- Steppe Front
The Steppe Front was a Front (military subdivision), effectively an
Army group sized formation, of theSoviet Army during the Second World War. This sense of the term "front" 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.History
On 9 July 1943 [Great Patriotic War 1941- 1945, Moscow 1977]
STAVKA formed a new Reserve Front in theVoronezh region, effective 30 April. It consisted of the command component of the 2nd Reserve Army (augmented by several officer and NCO courses), the 27th, 52nd, 53rd, 46th, 47th, 4th Guards Tank,5th Air Army and eight mobile corps (Tank, Guards Tank, and Mechanised). Most of these armies had been reassigned from theNorthwestern Front ,North Caucasus Front , or the STAVKA Reserve, the RVGK. On 13 April 1943 the Front was renamed theSteppe Military District , to be effective 15 April.The Steppe Military District was redesignated the Steppe Front on
July 9 ,1943 . It incorporated forces from the Soviet rear areas to the West ofKursk salient along the line Tula-Yelets -Stary Oskol -Rossosh (Тула-Елец-Старый Оскол-Россошь). It included units pulled out of the battles of Stalingrad and Leningrad and others. Under the command ofColonel General Ivan Konev from July to October 1943, it took part in the offensive of theBattle of Kursk .It was renamed the 2nd Ukrainian Front on
October 20 ,1943 .2nd Ukrainian Front
During the
Iassy-Kishinev Operation , 2nd Ukrainian Front, led by Army GeneralRodion Malinovsky , comprised:*
6th Guards Tank Army - Major General A.G. Kravchenko
*18th Tank Corps - Major General V.I. Polozkov
*Cavalry-Mechanized Group Gorshkov - Major General S.I.Gorshkov
*5th Guards Cavalry Corps
*23rd Tank Corps - Lieutenant General A.O. Akhmanov
*Fourth Guards Army - Galanin
*27th Army - Lieutenant General S.G. Trofimenko
*52nd Army - Koroteev
*Seventh Guards Army - Shumilov
*40th Army - Lieutenant General F.F. Zhmachenko
*53rd Army - Lieutenant General I.M. ManagarovReferences
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