Southwestern Front (Russian Empire)

Southwestern Front (Russian Empire)
The Southwestern Front was an army group of the Imperial Russian Army during World War I as part of the Eastern Front war theater.
During the conflict it was responsible for managing operations along a front line that stretched 615 kilometers across Ukraine, starting from what is now southern Belarus to northern Romania. To its left side (south), there was located Romanian Front which was a joint formation of the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Romania. To its right side (north), there was located Northwestern Front which in 1915 split and Western Front was one that covered right flank of the Southwestern Front. The front was facing primarily against Austro-Hungarian Army and in few operations against Imperial German Army.
In 1917 the headquarters of the Front was located in Berdychiv and later moved west to Rivne.
It was established in August 1914 based on units of the Kiev Military District and the Odessa Military District and lasted throughout the war until the unrest caused by the Russian Revolution, at which point it was demobilized along with the rest of the Russian Army in early 1918. In total some two million troops had been under its command.
Operations
Battle of Galicia (23 August – 11 September 1914) → Russian occupation of Eastern Galicia
Siege of Przemyśl (16 September 1914 – 22 March 1915)
Battle of the Vistula River (29 September – 31 October 1914)
Battle of Krzywopłoty (17 – 18 November 1914)
Battle of Limanowa (1 – 13 December 1914)
Battle of Łowczówek (22 – 25 December 1914)
Carpathian Front (7 January – 20 April 1915)
Gorlice–Tarnów offensive (2 May – 13 July 1915)
Great Retreat (13 July – 19 September 1915)
Rovno offensive (27 August – 15 October 1915)
Brusilov offensive (4 June – 20 September 1916)
Kerensky offensive (1 – 19 July 1917)
Battle of Krechowce (24 July 1917)
Operation Faustschlag (18 February – 3 March 1918) → Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Battle of Bakhmach (8 – 13 March 1918)
Crimea Operation (13 – 25 April 1918)
Key events
Arrest of Generals in Berdychiv (29 August – 27 September 1917)
Kornilov affair (10 – 13 September 1917) → Bolshevik coup-d'etat
Assassination of Nikolay Dukhonin in Mogilev
Kerensky–Krasnov uprising
Ukrainian–Soviet War (8 November 1917 – 17 November 1921)
Armies deployed on the Southwestern Front
The following field armies were part of the Southwestern Front.
3rd Army (July 1914 – June 1915 and June 1916 – July 1916)
19.07.1914 – 03.09.1914 — General of Infantry Nikolai Ruzsky
03.09.1914 – 20.05.1915 — General of Infantry Radko Dimitriev
03.06.1915 – 03.08.1917 — General of Infantry Leonid Lesh
5th Army (July 1914 – September 1914)
General of Cavalry Pavel Plehve
8th Army (July 1914 – August 1917)
28.07.1914 – 17.03.1916 — General of Cavalry Aleksei Brusilov
23.03.1916 – 29.04.1917 — General of Cavalry Alexey Kaledin
29.04.1917 – 10.07.1917 — General of Infantry Lavr Kornilov
11.07.1917 – 25.07.1917 — Lieutenant-General Vladimir Cheremisov
30.07.1917 – 17.10.1917 — Lieutenant-General Michai Sokownin
4th Army (August 1914 – June 1915)
General of Infantry Alexei Evert
9th Army (August 1914 – December 1916 )
General of Infantry Platon Lechitsky
7th Army (October 1914 – early 1918)
19 July 1914 – 19 October 1915 — General of Artillery Vladimir Nikolayevich Nikitin
19 October 1915 – 11 April 1917 — General of Infantry Dmitry Shcherbachev
13 April 1917 – 20 June 1917 — Lieutenant-General Leonid Bielkowicz
26 June 1917 – 9 September 1917 — Lieutenant-General Vladimir Selivachyov
9 September 1917 – 3 December 1917 — Lieutenant-General Januariusz Cichowicz
11th Army (October 1914 – early 1918), created during the Siege of Przemyśl as "Siege Army"
21.10.1914 – 05.04.1915 — General of Infantry Andrey Selivanov
05.04.1915 – 19.10.1915 — General of Infantry Dmitry Shcherbachev
19.10. 1915 – 25.10.1916 — General of Infantry Vladimir Viktorovich Sakharov
25.10.1916 – 20.12.1916 — General of Infantry Vladislav Klembovsky
20.12.1916 – 05.04.1917 — General of Infantry Dimitri Bałanin
15.04.1917 – 21.05.1917 — Lieutenant-General Aleksei Gutor
25.05.1917 – 04.06.1917 — General of Infantry Ivan Fiedotov
04.06.1917 – 09.07.1917 — General of Cavalry Ivan Erdélyi
29.04.1917 – 09.09.1917 — General of Infantry Pyotr Baluyev
19.07.1917 – 29.08.1917 — Lieutenant-General Fiodor Rerberg
09.09.1917 – 01.12.1917 — Lieutenant-General Mikhail Promtov
Special Army (September 1916 – November 1916 and July 1917 – early 1918)
14.08.1916 – 10.11.1916 - General of Cavalry Vasily Gurko
10.11.1916 – 17.02.1917 - General of Infantry Pyotr Baluyev
17.02.1917 – 31.03.1917 - General of Cavalry Vasily Gurko
02.04.1917 – 09.07.1917 - General of Infantry Pyotr Baluyev
12.07.1917 – 29.08.1917 - General of Cavalry Ivan Erdélyi
29.08.1917 – 14.09.1917 - Acting Major General Vasily Sarychev
14.09.1917 – 20.11.1917 - General of Infantry Stepan Stelnitsky
11.1917 - Acting Colonel Alexander Ilyich Yegorov
20.11.1917 – 13.12.1917 - Lieutenant General Theodore Rerberg
13.12.1917 – 19.12.1917 - Lieutenant General Alex Kushakevich
12.19.1917 – 03.1918 - Colonel Vladimir Yegoryev
1st Army (July 1917 – September 1917)
Lieutenant General Gleb Vannovsky
Separate Danube Army
Separate Czechoslovak Corps
Command
Commander of the armies of the Southwestern Front
The commanders of the Southwestern Front were as follows.
Bolshevik leaders
Chiefs of Staff
References
Notes
See also
List of Imperial Russian Army formations and units
South-Western Front electoral district (Russian Constituent Assembly election, 1917)
Fronts of the Russian Empire
Military units and formations established in 1914
1914 establishments in the Russian Empire
Military units and formations disestablished in 1918
1917 disestablishments in Russia
1918 disestablishments in Ukraine