Transcaucasus Front

Transcaucasus Front
Transcaucasus Front
Active	23 August – 30 December 1941; 15 May 1942 – 25 August 1945
Country	armies
Engagements	World War II; Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran; Battle of the Caucasus
Commanders
Notable; commanders	Dmitry Kozlov; Ivan Tyulenev

The Transcaucasus Front (

Soviet Red Army—a military formation comparable to an army group, not a geographic military front—during the Second World War

.

The Transcaucasus Front describes two distinct organizations during the war.

First creation

The first version was created on 23 August 1941 from the

Transcaucasus Military District, which was originally formed in 1922. The boundary of the Front extended along the Soviet border with Turkey and along the Black Sea coast from Batumi to Tuapse

.
It was commanded by Lieutenant-General Dmitry Kozlov from August 1941 to December 1941.

On 22 June 1941, when the German invasion started, the Transcaucasus Military District included the

77th).^[1]

Also part of the District were three fortified regions and District troops, which included artillery and NKVD frontier units.

The initial Front organization incorporated the four

Soviet armies

stationed in the district in June 1941:

the 45th and 46th on the border with Turkey and
the 44th and 47th on the border with Iran.

On 25 August 1941 troops from the Front

oil fields

.

Order of Battle, Invasion of Iran, 1941

Soviet OOB for 25 August 1941:^[2]

44th Army (Major General Alexander Khadeyev)

20th Mountain Rifle Division
77th Mountain Rifle Division
17th Cavalry Division
24th Tank Regiment

47th Army (Major General Vasily Novikov)

53rd Army (Major General Sergei Trofimenko) (invaded Iran from Turkmenistan, Central Asian Military District, on 27 August)

58th Rifle Corps
83rd Mountain Rifle Division
4th Cavalry Corps

As part of the Central Asian Military District (not the TCF), 53rd Army was described by the

4th Cavalry Corps (18th, 20th, 39th Cavalry Divisions), 44th Cavalry Division, and 72nd Independent Mountain Rifle Regiment (огсп) on 1 October 1941.^[3]

On 1 November 1941 the front was listed in the

402nd Rifle Division, the 1st Mountain Cavalry Division, and the 23rd Cavalry Division.^[4]

In November 1941, the

51st Army

joined the front after being evacuated from the Crimea.

The Transcaucasus Front was renamed the

Caucasian Front

on 30 December 1941.

The second version of this front was again created from the Transcaucasus Military District on 15 May 1942, and continued in existence until its reorganization as the Tbilisi Military District on 25 August 1945 after the end of the war.

It was commanded by

58th

Armies at various periods.