Stalingrad Front

The Stalingrad Front was a front (military subdivision) of the Soviet Union's Red Army during the Second World War. The name indicated the primary geographical region in which the Front first fought, based on the city of Stalingrad on the Volga River.

By order of the Stavka on July 12, 1942, Stalingrad Front was formed, under the command of Marshal S.K. Timoshenko, with N.S. Khrushchev as member of the Military Council and Gen. P.I. Bodin as chief of staff. Ostensibly this was simply a renaming of the now-dissolved Southwestern Front, but in fact was a largely new formation, as the only effective units under its command were the new 62nd, 63rd and 64th Armies, formed from the 7th, 5th and 1st Reserve Armies, respectively. The armies of the former front had been badly battered and partly encircled in the German Operation Wilhelm (June 10–15), Operation Fridericus II (June 22–25), and the opening stages of Operation Blue (began June 28) and the remnants were in retreat towards the east bank of the Don River. The new front was ordered to hold a defensive line within the great bend of the Don, roughly between Kletskaya and the confluence of the Chir and the Don, preparing for the oncoming German Sixth Army.

On July 21, Stalin concluded that Timoshenko was no longer capable of effective command, and called Lt. Gen. V.N. Gordov to Moscow, appointing him to command of the front effective July 23. Khrushchev and Bodin remained in their respective posts. At this time Stalingrad Front had eight armies under command: the above-mentioned had been joined by the 51st, 57th, 21st, 28th and 38th Armies, of which the last four were in particularly poor condition. The remnants of 28th Army were being rebuilt as the 4th Tank Army, while 38th was similarly rebuilding as 1st Tank Army. The front also commanded 8th Air Army and the Volga River Flotilla.

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