Steppe Front

The Steppe Front, later the 2nd Ukrainian Front, was a major formation of the Red Army during the Second World War.

On 9 July 1943, Stavka formed a new Reserve Front in the Voronezh 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 the Northwestern Front, North Caucasus Front, or the STAVKA Reserve, the RVGK. On 13 April 1943 the Front was renamed the Steppe 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 of Kursk 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 of Colonel General Ivan Konev from July to October 1943, it took part in the Battle of Kursk.

Ukrainian Front

Ukrainian Front may refer to several Soviet fronts of the Russian Civil War and the World War II:

Soviet order of battle for invasion of Poland in 1939

The Soviet order of battle for the invasion of Poland in 1939 details the major combat units arrayed for the Soviet surprise attack on Poland on September 17, 1939. As a result of joining battle after the Germans had already launched their invasion, the Soviets, prepared for battle in secrecy, met comparatively limited resistance. Several skirmishes between the German and Soviet forces did occur, but neither government was prepared for starting a larger conflict, and these were soon referred to as "misunderstandings".

Like the Germans, the Soviets employed two primary offensive axes, each managed by a Front. Each Front commander had at his disposal a mobile group of forces created from cavalry and mechanised troops; a precursor of the cavalry-mechanised groups of the Second World War.

The effects of the purge are visible in the ranks of the commanders in the order of battle, with only one Army commander serving in the appropriate rank of the Army General, in this case 2nd Class (Komandarm 2nd rank, Russian: командарм 2 ранга), the rest serving in being Corps (Komcor) and Divisional (Komdiv) Commander rank (Russian: комкор, комдив)

Ukrainian Front (1919)

Ukrainian Front formerly the Army Group of Kursk Direction was a Soviet Army Group (later front) for invasion of Ukraine (officially for helping the Ukrainian workers in struggle against the Austria-Germany occupation and Hetman forces). Created on November 17, 1918, the Army Group was primarily based on two insurgent divisions that were created on September 22, 1918 by the order #6 of All-Ukrainian Central Military Revolutionary Committee and were part of the Red Army Reserve Front at the Oryol Military District. The reserve front was originally commissioned under Commandarm Glagoliev and members of revolutionary military council Vyshnevetsky and Zusmanovich.

Army Group of Kursk Direction

On November 17, 1918 there was established the Revolutionary Military Council consisting of Stalin, Yuri Pyatakov, Volodymyr Zatonsky, and Vladimir Antonov-Ovseyenko of the army group of Kursk Direction. The newly appointed Commander-in-Chief of all Armed Forces of Republic Jukums Vācietis (since September 1, 1918) preferred to referred to simply as the Army Group of Kursk Direction.