Formations of the Soviet Army

Formations of the Soviet Army were organizational groups used to divide the armed forces of the Soviet Union after 1945. The largest organizational groups were teatr voennykh deistvii, ("theaters of military operations", TMOs, or Strategic Directions), which comprised large areas of the world. During war time, forces in these TVDs could be organized into various Fronts (similar to army groups in other militaries), or Armies during peacetime. Domestically, Soviet Army forces were assigned to various Military Districts. Lesser organizational groups include corps and divisions.

These theaters were the area of operations for military operations in a large geographic area. During and after the Second World War, six strategic direction headquarters existed as part of the Stavka, the Soviet military high command:

The Chief Command of the troops of the North Caucasus Direction included the Crimean Front; the Sevastopol' defensive area; the North Caucasus Military District; the Black Sea Fleet; the Azov Flotilla, two rifle divisions, two rifle brigades, and a cavalry corps of four cavalry divisions. Marshal Semyon Budyonny was appointed as the commander-in-chief. On 19 May 1942 the Stavka dissolved both the North Caucasus High Command and the Crimean Front, and a North Caucasus Front was formed in their place.

In 1979, new headquarters in the theatres of military operations were established:

Military districts (MDs) were under the direct control of the Ministry of Defence. They existed primarily to "train and mobilize troops so as to ensure a high level of combat readiness." Had a war broken out, many of the districts were likely slotted for service under one of the four existing TMOs at the time, with a fifth being contemplated if necessary. The Moscow, Volga and Urals Military Districts would have likely formed the Wartime Central Reserve.

The most combat-ready formations within any MD would conduct operations in adjacent theatres under the direction of the appropriate TMO headquarters, while the MD itself would continue to form, equip, and train new military formations for subsequent service abroad while also maintaining domestic political and economic order and conducting local defence.

These peacetime administrative units would provide support to between one and six fronts during wartime.^{[citation needed]} Groups of forces in Eastern Europe included the Central Group of Forces (Czechoslovakia), the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, the Northern Group of Forces (Poland), and the Southern Group of Forces (Balkans initially, then Hungary).

Fronts were the largest wartime field formation, equivalent to an army group in many other forces. The Imperial Russian Army designated "fronts" in World War I; the Soviets used the concept from the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922 onwards. A frontal Air Army was "ordinarily assigned to each Front (Army Group) of the ground forces, to provide cover, support, interdiction, and reconnaissance for the appropriate sector of the front. In peacetime, those military districts designated for activation, as fronts in wartime are generally each assigned a tactical air army."