It was first created on June 22, 1941 from the
Kiev Special Military District. The western boundary of the front in June 1941 was 865 km long, from the
Pripyat River and the town of
Wlodawa to the
Prut River and the town of
Lipkany at the border with Romania. It connected to the north with the
Western Front, which extended to the Lithuanian border, and to the south with the
Southern Front, which extended to the city of
Odessa on the Black Sea.
Operational history
The Southwestern Front was on the main axis of attack by the German
Army Group South during
Operation Barbarossa. At the outbreak of war with Germany, the Front was commanded by
Mikhail Kirponos and contained the Soviet
5th,
6th,
26th, and
12th Armies along the frontier.
16th and
19th Armies were in reserve behind the forward forces. These forces took part in the tank battles in western
Ukraine and were surrounded and destroyed at the
Battle of Uman and the
Battle of Kiev (1941) in August and September 1941. Kirponos himself was killed during the
Battle of Kiev.
The Front was immediately re-established with new forces. During the period of the
Battle of Moscow it was under the command of Marshal Timoshenko, and included from north to south the
40th,
21st,
38th and
6thArmies. It was formally disbanded on July 12, 1942 and the forces transferred to the
Stalingrad Front and
Southern Front.