After the invasion began the Odessa Military District was renamed Southern Front, Commanded by Colonel General I. V. Tiulenev. The front fielded the 9th and 18th Armies. The 2nd Mechanized Corps was heavily involved in the first battles of Operation Barbarossa, helping to defend Soviet occupied Bessarabia with Colonel General A. K. Cherevichenko's 9th Army against "Generaloberst" Schobert's 11th Army, which had penetrated Soviet defenses, captured Iassy &amp; reached the Prut River on the first day of action in Operation München.