Soviet Central Front
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The Central Front was a Front (i.e. a military formation of roughly Army Group size) of the Soviet Army during the Second World War. This sense of the term 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.
The Central Front describes either of two distinct organizations during the war. The first version was created on July 24, 1941 from the right wing of the forces in the Western Front, including a new designation of the Third Army and the headquarters of the (disbanded) Fourth Army, whose former HQ formed the Front headquarters. John Erickson, in his book 'The Road to Stalingrad' (1975), describes the Front as a combination of the 13th and 21st Armies, plus 136 aircraft under the command of Major General (Aviation) G.A. Vorozheikin as its air component. The Central Front thus became the first new Front formed after the German invasion.
This Front was encircled and destroyed near Chernigov and formally disbanded on August 25, 1941. The surviving forces transferred to the first version of the Bryansk Front.
The second version of this Front was created on February 15, 1943. It incorporated the headquarters and forces of the Don Front, plus additional reserve armies (including the 70th, formed from NKVD forces). 2nd Tank Army was also part of the Front. It was renamed the 1st Belorussian Front on October 20, 1943.
[edit] Commanders
- Colonel General Fyodor I. Kuznetsov (July 1941-August 1941)
- Lieutenant General M.G. Efremov (August 1941)
- Colonel General Konstantin K. Rokossovsky [promoted to full General in April 1943] (February 1943-October 1943)
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