Southern Front ( Soviet Union ) The Southern Front was a Front – a roughly Army group sized formation – of the Soviet Army during the Second World War . The Southern Front directed military operations during the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina in 1940 , and then was formed twice after the June 1941 German invasion , Operation Barbarossa . During the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina in 1940 , the Soviets deployed three armies ( 12th , 5th and 9th ) . Altogether the Soviet Southern Front opposing Bessarabia and Bukovina consisted of 32 ( or 31 ) rifle divisions , 2 ( or 3 ) motorised rifle divisions , 6 cavalry divisions , 11 tank brigades , 3 airborne brigades ( one in reserve ) , 14 corp ' s artillery regiments , 16 artillery regiments of the Main Reserve Command and 4 heavy artillery divisions . In numbers this would be around 460 , 000 men , ca . 12 , 000 guns and mortars , ca . 3 , 000 tanks and 2 , 160 aircraft . First Formation . After the German invasion , the Southern Front was re - created on June 25 , 1941 from the forces in the Moscow and Odessa Military District s , and included the 9th Army . It was commanded by General Ivan V . Tiulenev from June 1941 to August 1941 . Lieutenant General Dmitri I . Ryabyshev took over on 30 August 1941 and held command until 5 October , when Colonel General Yakov Cherevichenko took command , until December 1941 . During 1941 the Front fought in the border battles in the southern Ukraine , defended Odessa , and then conducted the defense and successful counteroffensive at Rostov - on - Don . Lieutenant General Rodion Ia . Malinovsky arrived in December and held the reins until July 1942 . In 1942 the Front took part in the Donbass , Barvenko - Lozovaia , and Voronezh - Volgograd ( Stalingrad ) operations . According to Glantz and Bonn , the Front then suffered a notable failure at the Second Battle of Kharkov . The Front received additional forces from the ( disbanded ) Southwestern Front on July 12 , 1942 and was formally disbanded on July 28 , 1942 , with the forces transferred to the North Caucasus Front . Second Formation . In July 1942 , three armies ( the 1st , 5th and 7th Reserve Armies ) out of the Supreme High Command reserve were moved into the Stalingrad sector and redesignated the 64th , 63rd and 62nd armies respectively . They formed the core of the Stalingrad Front on 12 July . The Stalingrad Front was then divided into the Stalingrad Front , under General Lieutenant V . N . Gordov , and the Southeastern Front , under General Colonel Andrei I . Yeremenko on 7 August 1942 as the Battle of Stalingrad began . Stalin had actually taken the decision to split the two fronts on 3 August at 0300 despite protest from his advisors . The Tsaritsa gully in Stalingrad was the dividing line . Yeremenko ' s new South - Eastern Front included the 51st , 57th , and 64th Armies . They were then re - transformed into the Don and Southwestern Fronts on 28 September with the Southeastern Front becoming the Stalingrad Front ( Second Formation ) . The Southern Front was re - formed from the Stalingrad Front on January 1 , 1943 , and Colonel General Andrei I . Yeremenko stayed in command , until February 1943 . General Lieutenant Rodion Malinovsky [ promoted to Colonel General in February 1943 ] then filled in until Lieutenant General Fyodor I . Tolbukhin took command in March 1943 . Tolbukhin was promoted to Colonel General in April . He would command the Front into 1944 . On 1 April 1943 Southern Front comprised 2nd Guards Army , 5th Shock Army , 28th Army , 44th Army , 51st Army , 8th Air Army , and a significant number of Front troops . Among the Front troops were the 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps ( 3 гв . кк ( 5 и 6 гв . , 32 кд , 14 гв . иптап , 3 гв . оиптдн , 64 гв . миндн ) ) , 4th Guards Cavalry Corps ( 4 гв . кк ( 9 и 10 гв . , 30 кд , 152 гв . иптап , 4 гв . оиптдн , 68 гв . миндн , 255 зенап ) ) and 5th Guards Cavalry Corps ( 5 гв . кк ( 11 и 12 гв . , 63 кд , 150 гв . иптап , 5 гв . оиптдн , 72 гв . миндн , 585 зенап ) ) , 3rd and 4th Guards Mechanised Corps , as well as the 76th , 78th , and 116th Fortified Regions . Southern Front was renamed the 4th Ukrainian Front on October 20 , 1943 .