3rd Ukrainian Front 3rd Ukrainian Front was a Front of the Red Army during World War II . It was founded on 20 October 1943 , on the basis of a Stavka order of October 16 , 1943 , by renaming the Southwestern Front . It included 1st Guards Army , 8th Guards Army , 6th , 12th , and 46th Armies and 17th Air Army . Later it included 5th Shock , 4th and 9th Guards Army , 26th , 27th , 28th , 37th , 57th Army , 6th Guards Tank Army , and the Bulgarian First , Second and Fourth Armies . The Danube Flotilla was assigned to the Front ' s operational control . Zaporozhe and Dnepropetrovsk offensive operations . In the first half of October 1943 , Southwestern Front ( 3rd Ukrainian Front from 20 October ) commanded by Army General Rodion Malinovsky was tasked with attacking the German Panther - Wotan line , and later securing the bridgeheads on the eastern bank of the Dnieper on the Izyum - Dnipropetrovsk axis during the Battle of the Lower Dnieper . But the first attempt to establish bridgeheads failed . Three infantry armies : 8th Guards , 3rd Guards and the 12th Army , and two corps , 1st Guards Mechanized and 23rd Tank with 17th Air Army providing air support were assembled for the new assault . On 10 October 1943 Chuikov ' s 8th Guards launched the attack , with the tank corps being inserted on the 13 October ; the 12th Army attacked from the north , and 3rd Guards from the south of Zaporizhia . Germans retreated from Zaporizhia , destroying the railway bridge over Dnieper behind themselves . On 23 October Malinovsky , who wanted to take Dnipropetrovsk , and trap the First Panzer Army in the eastern reaches of the Dnieper bend , inserted the newly arrived 46th Army into combat . Together with 8th Guards it was trying to trap German forces against the western bank of Dnieper between Dnipropetrovsk and Dniprodzerzhynsk , the site of the huge Dnieper Hydroelectric Station . The 46th Army units tried to get to the station in time to prevent the destruction of the dam by retreating German troops . On 25 October Dnipropetrovsk was taken , but the installations and the Dam were partly destroyed . At the same time the Koniev ' s 2nd Ukrainian Front was attacking towards the Krivoi Rog from the north with the 7th Guards Army , but the 1st Panzer Army was saved for the moment as Koniev ' s assault on Krivoi Rog stalled at Ingulets river north of Kherson . However , Vatutin commanding the 1st Ukrainian Front located north of Poltava sent the 5th Guards Tank Army which penetrated north of Krivoi Rog , and was only halted by the stubborn German defence and length of its own logistic tail . On conclusion , both operations allowed the two Fronts to create a single Krementchug - Dnipropetrovsk bridgehead expanded to Zaporozhia due to the breaching of the Wotan Line by the Southern Front . Later , units of the 6th Army seized bridgehead s south of Zaporozhye , and by the end of December , along with 2nd Ukrainian Front held on the Dnieper major strategic stronghold . After the liberation of right - bank Ukraine by troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front , in collaboration with 4th Ukrainian Front by making Nikopol - Krivoy Rog Operation 1944 , the took to the district Ingulets , where in March – April launched an offensive at the Nikolayev - Odessa area . After carrying out the Bereznegovato - Snigirevskaya operation , the front readied itself for an attack on Odessa . Before the Odessa Offensive 3rd Ukrainian received substantial reinforcements . It now fielded seven Armies : 5th Shock Army , 6th Army , 8th Guards Army , 28th Army , 37th Army , 46th Army and 57th Army . Malinowsky also formed a cavalry - mechanized group consisting of 4th Guards Cavalry Corps and 4th Mechanized Corps under Lt . Gen . Pliev . The target was port Nikolayev and large Black Sea port Odessa . The attack opened on 6 March 1944 when Soviet troops forced the Ingulets , the Visun and the Ingul rivers . They assisted the Black Sea Fleet completing the liberation of southern Ukraine , and liberated a large part of the Moldavian SSR and moved to Dniester and , seizing bridgeheads on its right bank , including Kitskansky bridgehead . Romania and Bulgaria . In August 1944 the 3rd Ukrainian Front engaged in the Iassy - Kishinev Offensive , which resulted in the release of all the Moldavian SSR , and Romania declaring war on Germany . On 8 September Soviet troops entered the territory of Bulgaria and by the end of the month occupied the country . From 28 September - 20 October 1944 3rd Ukrainian Front in collaboration with the People ' s Liberation Army of Yugoslavia with the participation of troops of the Fatherland Front in Bulgaria carried out the Belgrade Offensive , which resulted in the liberation of the capital of Yugoslavia , Belgrade , and most of Serbia . In October 1944 - February 1945 , the 3rd Ukrainian Front had forces involved in the Siege of Budapest , including 46th Army . Its troops crossed the Danube and seized a bridgehead on its right bank . In January 1945 , they repelled the enemy counter - attacks , trying to relieve the forces surrounded in Budapest , and in March , during the German Operation Frühlingserwachen , a counter - offensive broke the German troops in the area of Lake Balaton . The successful completion of this battle made possible the beginning of the Vienna Offensive on 16 March , in conjunction with the left wing 2nd Ukrainian Front . Thereafter the front ' s forces completed the liberation of Hungary , expelled the enemy from the eastern part of Austria and took its capital , Vienna . On 15 June 1945 , the on the basis of a Stavka directive on May 29 , 1945 the front was disbanded , and reorganised as the Southern Group of Forces . 26th Army was grouped with 37th Army into the SGF . The Front included 57th Army from October to December 1944 . 3rd Ukrainian Front in October 1943 during Zaporozhe - Dniepropetrovsk operation . Front Commander : General of Army Rodion Malinovsky 1st Guards Army 3rd Guards Army : 8th Guards Army : 6th Army : 12th Army 1st Guards Mechanized Corps 23rd Tank Corps 17th Air Army Command . Commanders : Member of the Military Council : Chief of Staff :