3rd Ukrainian Front
 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification.(January 2013) |
The3rd Ukrainian Front(‹See Tfd›Russian:Третий Украинский фронт,romanized:Tretiy Ukrainskiy front) was aFrontof the SovietRed ArmyduringWorld War II.
It was founded on 20 October 1943, on the basis of aStavkaorder of October 16, 1943, by renaming theSouthwestern Front.It included1st Guards Army,8th Guards Army,6th,12th,and46thArmies and 17th Air Army. Later it included 5th Shock,4thand9th Guards Army,26th,27th,28th,37th,57th Army,6th Guards Tank Army,and the BulgarianFirst,SecondandFourthArmies. TheDanube Flotillawas assigned to the Front's operational control. This included the 83rd Naval Infantry Brigade.
Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk offensive operations
[edit]In the first half of October 1943, Southwestern Front (3rd Ukrainian Front from 20 October) commanded by Army GeneralRodion Malinovskywas tasked with attacking the GermanPanther-Wotan line,and later securing the bridgeheads on the eastern bank of theDnieperon theIzyum-Dnipropetrovskaxis during theBattle of the Lower Dnieper.But the first attempt to establish bridgeheads failed. Three infantry armies:8th Guards,3rd Guardsand the12th Army,and two corps,1st Guards Mechanizedand 23rd Tank with 17th Air Army providing air support were assembled for the new assault.
On 10 October 1943Chuikov's8th Guards launched the attack, with the tank corps being inserted on the 13 October; the12th Armyattacked from the north, and 3rd Guards from the south ofZaporizhzhia.Germans retreated from Zaporizhzhia, destroying the railway bridge over Dnieper behind themselves.[1]
On 23 OctoberMalinovsky,who wanted to takeDnipropetrovsk,and trap theFirst Panzer Armyin the eastern reaches of the Dnieper bend, inserted the newly arrived 46th Army into combat. Together with 8th Guards it was trying to trap German forces against the western bank of Dnieper between Dnipropetrovsk andDniprodzerzhynsk,the site of the hugeDnieper Hydroelectric Station.The46th Armyunits tried to get to the station in time to prevent the destruction of the dam by retreating German troops. On 25 October Dnipropetrovsk was taken, but the installations and the Dam were partly destroyed.[2]
At the same time theKoniev's2nd Ukrainian Frontwas attacking towards theKryvyi Rihfrom the north with the 7th Guards Army, but the 1st Panzer Army was saved for the moment as Koniev's assault on Kryvyi Rih stalled atInguletsriver north of Kherson.[3]However,Vatutincommanding the 1st Ukrainian Front located north ofPoltavasent the 5th Guards Tank Army which penetrated north of Kryvyi Rih, and was only halted by the stubborn German defence and length of its own logistic tail. On conclusion, both operations allowed the two Fronts to create a single Krementchug-Dnipropetrovsk bridgehead expanded to Zaporizhzhia due to the breaching of the Wotan Line by the Southern Front.
Later, units of the 6th Army seizedbridgeheadssouth ofZaporizhzhia,and by the end of December, along with2nd Ukrainian Frontheld on the Dnieper major strategic stronghold.
After the liberation of right-bank Ukraine by troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, in collaboration with4th Ukrainian Frontby makingNikopol-Krivoy Rog Operation1944, the took to the districtIngulets,where in March–April launched an offensive at the Nikolayev-Odessa area. After carrying out theBereznegovatoye–Snigirevka Offensiveoperation, the front readied itself for an attack onOdessa.
Before theOdessa Offensive3rd Ukrainian received substantial reinforcements. It now fielded seven Armies: 5th Shock Army, 6th Army, 8th Guards Army, 28th Army, 37th Army, 46th Army and 57th Army. Malinowsky also formed a cavalry-mechanized group consisting of 4th Guards Cavalry Corps and 4th Mechanized Corps under Lt. Gen. Pliev. The target was port Nikolayev and large Black Sea port Odessa. The attack opened on 6 March 1944 when Soviet troops forced the Ingulets, the Visun and the Ingul rivers. They assisted theBlack Sea Fleetcompleting the liberation of southern Ukraine, and liberated a large part of theMoldavian SSRand moved toDniesterand, seizing bridgeheads on its right bank, including Kitskansky bridgehead.
Romania and Bulgaria
[edit]
In August 1944 the 3rd Ukrainian Front engaged in theIassy-Kishinev Offensive,which resulted in the release of all the Moldavian SSR, andRomaniadeclaring war on Germany.
On 8 September, after breaking diplomatic ties and declaring war on Bulgaria, Soviet troops entered the territory ofBulgariaand occupied part of the country. The next day a Bulgarian communist led coalition organized a coup and took over the government, eventually switching sides and declaring war on Germany. From 28 September - 20 October 1944 3rd Ukrainian Front in collaboration with thePeople's Liberation Army of Yugoslaviawith the participation of troops of the Fatherland Front in Bulgaria carried out theBelgrade Offensive,which resulted in the liberation of the capital of Yugoslavia,Belgrade,and most ofSerbia.
In October 1944 - February 1945, the 3rd Ukrainian Front had forces involved in theSiege of Budapest,including46th Army.Its troops crossed theDanubeand seized a bridgehead on its right bank. In January 1945, they repelled the enemy counter-attacks, trying to relieve the forces surrounded in Budapest, and in March, during the GermanOperation Frühlingserwachen,a counter-offensive broke the German troops in the area ofLake Balaton.The successful completion of this battle made possible the beginning of theVienna Offensiveon 16 March, in conjunction with the left wing2nd Ukrainian Front.Thereafter the front's forces completed the liberation of Hungary, expelled the enemy from the eastern part of Austria and took its capital,Vienna.
The Front included 57th Army from October to December 1944.
On 15 June 1945, the on the basis of a Stavka directive on May 29, 1945, the front was disbanded, and reorganised as theSouthern Group of Forces.26th Army was grouped with 37th Army into the SGF.
3rd Ukrainian Front in October 1943 during Zaporizhzhia–Dnipropetrovsk operation
[edit]Front Commander:General of ArmyRodion Malinovsky
- 34th Guards Rifle Corps
- 59th Guards Rifle Division
- 61st Guards Rifle Division
- 279th Rifle Division(Unit listed twice)
- 32nd Rifle Corps
- 259th Rifle Division
- 266th Rifle Division
- 279th Rifle Division(Unit listed twice)
- 1st Guards Mechanized Brigade
- 2nd Guards Mechanized Brigade
- 3rd Guards Mechanized Brigade
- 9th Guards Tank Brigade
- 3rd Tank Brigade
- 39th Tank Brigade
- 135th Tank Brigade
- 56th Motorized Rifle Brigade
- 1st Guards Mixed Aviation Corps
- 1st Mixed Aviation Corps
- 9th Mixed Aviation Corps[4]
Command
[edit]Commanders:
- General of the ArmyRodion Malinovsky(Oct. 1943 – May 1944);
- General of the Army, in September 1944, Marshal of the Soviet UnionFyodor Tolbukhin(May 1944 – end of the war).
Member of the Military Council:
- Lieutenant-General in September 1944, Colonel-General A. Zheltov (whole period).
Chief of Staff:
- Lieutenant-GeneralTheodosius K. Korzhenevich(Oct. 1943 – May 1944);
- Lieutenant-General in May 1944, Colonel-GeneralSergey Biryuzov(May–October 1944);
- Lieutenant-General in April 1945, Colonel-GeneralSimon P. Ivanov(October 1944 – end of the war).
Notes
[edit]- ^Erickson, John,The Road To Berlin,Cassell Military Paperbacks, 2003 p.138
- ^Erickson, p.139
- ^Atlas Mira Moskva 1988 Ukrainska SSr Moldavskaja SSR page 46
- ^Boevoi Sostav Sovietskoi Armii czast III januar-dekabr 1943 page 253 in the BSSA Front is listed under South Western Front name but it changed name in October to 3rd Ukrainian Front from November 1943 it is listed under name of 3rd Ukrainian Front