The Voronezh front was established at the end of June 1942 when tanks of the GermanWehrmacht's 6th Army reached Voronezh during the early stages of Operation Blau. It was split off the earlier Bryansk Front in order to better defend the Voronezh region. The name indicated the primary geographical region in which the front first fought, based on the town of Voronezh on the Don River.
The Voronezh Front participated in the Battle of Voronezh, the defensive operations on the approaches to Stalingrad, and in the December 1942 Operation Saturn, the follow-on to the encirclement of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad where it destroyed the Hungarian Second Army. Following Operation Saturn, the front was involved in Operation Star, which included the Third Battle of Kharkov, which resulted in a long battle from 2 February to 23 March 1943, and the reversal of much of the Soviet gains by the Germans. During Zvezda the front included the 38th, 40th, 60th, and 69th Armies plus the 3rd Tank Army, resulting in the reorganisation of the 3rd Tank Army as the 57th Army due to its destruction. In the Battle of Kursk in August 1943, the front operated on the southern shoulder, during which it commanded the Battle of Prokhorovka on the Soviet side.
During Operation Polkovodets Rumyantsev, which began on August 3, 1943, the front included 38th, 40th, 27th Armies; the 6th and 5th Guards; and the 1st and 5th Guards Tank Armies. During this battle both the 1st and 5th Guards Tank Armies made their main effort in the 5th Guards Army sector, and succeeded eventually in liberating both Belgorod and Kharkov. One of the divisions in the 5th Guards Army was the 13th Guards Rifle Division. The front also fought in the subsequent liberation of eastern Ukraine.
In 1945, the front participated in the Vistula-Oder offensive, and conducted the Silesian and Prague Operations, and the siege of Breslau. It also participated in the Berlin operations in Germany and Poland. The front also conducted the major part of the Halbe Encirclement, in which most of the German 9th Army was destroyed south of Berlin. By this time the Polish Second Army was operating as part of the Front. Finally 1st Ukrainian Front provided the defence against the counter-attacks by Armee Wenck which aimed to relieve Berlin and the 9th Army, later uniting with the Americans on the Elbe River. The front then completed the Prague Offensive which became the final battle of World War II in Europe, therefore ending the war.
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