Volkhov Front

Created by directive of the Supreme Command Headquarters since December 17, 1941 due to the forces of the left wing of the Leningrad Front and reserves of the Supreme Command during the defense of the cities of the Leningrad Region Volkhov and Tikhvin .

On April 23, 1942, the front was disbanded and transformed into the “ Volkhov Group of Forces ” (“ Group of Troops of the Volkhov Direction”) of the Leningrad Front.

From the memoirs of General M.S. Khozin :

April 21, 1942 I was invited to Headquarters . The reason for the call was the fact that I repeatedly in conversations over the direct wire with the Headquarters officials expressed complaints that the operation to lift the blockade from Leningrad between the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts was inconsistent, fragmented, that the enemy, using this, easily parries our attacks . I requested that the Stavka more centrally lead the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts , directing their efforts to solving the main problem, and not only organize interaction between the fronts, but also supply the fronts with human and material resources in a timely manner.
As a result of my report, in the presence of B. M. Shaposhnikov, A. M. Vasilevsky and some members of the GKO, I. V. Stalin proposed to unite the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts into a single front in order to better cooperate the troops. Such an offer was unexpected not only for me, but, as I understood, for the other people present. It's a thing of the past, but it seems to me that at the first moment none of us could think deeply how acceptable it was. Subsequently, life showed the inappropriateness of this decision. But then neither I nor anyone else objected, and indeed at that time, under the colossal authority that Stalin enjoyed, hardly anyone could object. On the same day, a directive was signed late at night in which the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command ordered:
1. From 24 hours on April 23, 1942 to unite the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts into one - the Leningrad front in two groups:
a) groups of troops of the Leningrad direction ( 23rd , 42nd , 55th armies , Primorsky and Nevsky group of forces);
b) groups of troops of the Volkhov direction ( 8th , 54th , 4th , 2nd shock , 59th and 52nd armies , 4th and 6th guard corps and 13th cavalry corps ).
2. To appoint Lieutenant General Khozin as the Commander of the Leningrad Front, and to assign to him the command of a group of troops of the Volkhov direction.
At the same time, I was verbally ordered to develop a plan for withdrawing the 2nd shock army from the bag in which it was at that time.

Pretty soon we had to make sure that as a result of the unification of the fronts, the matter not only did not improve, but, on the contrary, worsened. ^[one]

June 8, 1942 Volkhov Front formed again ^[2] .

On June 8, the Stavka finally realized the fallacy of the abolition of the Volkhov Front . The Volkhov Front was restored, K. A. Meretskov again became its commander. Stalin ordered him and A.M. Vasilevsky to withdraw the 2nd shock army, even if without heavy weapons and equipment. ^[3]

Finally abolished on February 15, 1944.

The troops of the Volkhov Front during the battle of Leningrad in 1941-1944, together with the troops of the Leningrad Front, opposed the 16th (December 1941 - January 1942), the 18th German Army (January 1942 - February 1944) and the 11th (September — October 1942) to the German armies of Army Group North . In April 1942, the headquarters of the Volkhov Front was located in Malaya Vishera ^[4] . In January 1943, the troops of the front played a crucial role in breaking the blockade of Leningrad , and in 1944 - in the complete liberation of the city from the enemy blockade.

• Management team
  • Troop Commander: Army General K. A. Meretskov
  • Member of the Military Council: Army Commissioner I rank A. I. Zaporozhets
  • Chief of Staff: Kombrig , 12/28/1941 Major General G. D. Stelmakh
  • Head of Political Administration: Division Commissioner P. I. Gorokhov
  • Deputy commander: Lieutenant General A. A. Vlasov (from 20.04.1942 - at the same time commander of the 2nd shock army )
• Front composition, as of January 1, 1942
  • 2nd strike army
  • 4th Army
  • 52nd army
  • 59th Army
  • Parts of direct submission to the front

• Management team
  • Troop Commander: Lieutenant General M. S. Khozin ^[5]
  • Member of the Military Council: Army Commissioner I rank A. I. Zaporozhets
  • Chief of Staff: Major General G. D. Stelmakh
  • Head of Political Administration: Division Commissioner P.I. Gorokhov (23.4-12.5.1942); Division Commissioner I.V. Shikin (12-19.5.1942) [At the same time he was the head of the political department of the Leningrad Front]

• Management team
  • Troop Commander: Army General K. A. Meretskov
  • Member of the Military Council: Army Commissioner I rank, 10/10/1942 corps commissar A. I. Zaporozhets (9.6-8.10.1942); corps commissar, from December 6, 1942, Lieutenant General L. 3. Mehlis (October 8, 1942 - April 4, 1943); Major General, from 08.24.1943 Lieutenant General T. F. Shtykov (04.17.1943-15.2.1944)
  • Chief of Staff: Major General G. D. Stelmakh (9.6-5.10.1942); Lieutenant General M.N. Sharokhin (10.10.1942–25.6.1943); major general, from 09/26/1943 lieutenant general F. P. Ozerov (06/25/1943 - 02/15/1944)
  • Head of the Political Department: Brigadier Commissar , from December 6, 1942, Major General K. F. Kalashnikov (from ^06/ 20/1942–15.2.1944) ^[6]
• Front composition, as of January 1, 1943
  • 2nd strike army
  • 4th Army
  • 8th Army
  • 52nd army
  • 54th Army
  • 59th Army
  • 14th air army
  • Parts of direct submission to the front
• Front composition, as of January 1, 1944
  • 8th Army
  • 54th Army
  • 59th Army
  • 14th air army
  • Parts of direct submission to the front

• Tikhvin strategic offensive operation
• Luban operation
• The operation to withdraw from the encirclement of the 2nd shock army
• Sinyavinsky operation (1942)
• Operation Spark
• Operation Polar Star
• Mginsky offensive operation
• Leningrad-Novgorod operation
• Novgorod-Luga offensive operation

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  Ivan Bovkun , Peter Koshevoi , Sergey Khramtsov. Volkhov Front, 1942.

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  The meeting of the soldiers of the 2nd shock and 67th armies, January 18, 1943, photo by D. Kozlov.

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  Field Hospital , Volkhov Front , January 1943 , photo by Anatoly Garanin.

• The blockade of Leningrad in the documents of declassified archives / ed. N. L. Volkovsky. - M .: AST, St. Petersburg. : Polygon, 2005.
• Meretskov K. A. In the service of the people . - M.: Politizdat, 1968.
• On the Volkhov Front. 1941-1944 . - M .: Science, 1982.
• Glanz David . The battle for Leningrad. 1941-1945. - M .: AST: Astrel, 2008. ISBN 978-5-17-053893-5 .
• Shigin G. A. The Battle of Leningrad: major operations, “white spots”, losses. / Edited by N. L. Volkovsky. - SPb. : Polygon, 2004. ISBN 5-89173-261-0 .
• Gavrilov B. I. Introduction // Through the “Valley of Death”. The feat and tragedy of the soldiers of the Volkhov Front. January-June 1942 T. T. 1. Memoirs and materials. M., Institute of Russian History, Russian Academy of Sciences , 2002.
• Gavrilov B. I. "Death Valley." The tragedy and feat of the 2nd shock army . - M .: Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences , 1999. ISBN 5-8055-0057-4 .
• Gorbachev A.N. Military newspapers of the period 1900—2018. from the collections of the Russian State Library and Archives of the Russian Federation: A Quick Reference. M .: Infogans, 2019

• VGK Bet Directive No. 005581 of 12/11/1941 on the formation of the Volkhov Front
• VGK Bet Directive No. 170696 of December 2, 1942 on approval of the Iskra operation plan
• VGK Bet Directive No. 220023 of February 13, 1944 on the abolition of the Volkhov Front

• Front
• All fronts of the Great Patriotic War (inaccessible link from 24-05-2019 [72 days])