Moscow Air Defense Front
military unit
The Moscow Air Defense Front (Russian: Московский фронт ПВО) was an air defense front of the National Air Defense Forces, responsible for the air defense of Moscow during World War II. It was formed in April 1942 in response to predictions of a German bomber concentration against Moscow, and its units were used to cover troops and rear areas on the front after the halting of German air raids against that city. In June 1943 it was reorganized as the Special Moscow Air Defense Army.
History
The front was formed by an order of 5 April 1942 from the Moscow Air Defense Corps Region to provided air defense for Moscow and other key facilities in the Central industrial region, under the command of Lieutenant General Daniil Zhuravlyov. With its headquarters in that city, the front was the first such formation of its name and scope to be created, in response to a perceived increase in the strength of the German Luftwaffe forces against Moscow, specifically the movement of ten squadrons and detachments of bombers. An order of 6 April stipulated its composition and ordered its formation to be completed by 10 April. It was responsible for the same area as the Moscow Air Defense Corps Region along the line of Kovrov, Yuryev-Polsky, Kashin, Nosilovo, Kalinin, Staritsa, Rzhev, Dobraya, Yukhnov, Tarusa, Serpukhov, Kashira, Zaraysk, Ryazan, and Kasizmov, forming a ring around Moscow.
It included the 6th Fighter Aviation Corps (IAK) with 23 fighter aviation regiments stationed at eight aviation base areas, thirteen anti-aircraft artillery regiments, thirteen separate anti-aircraft artillery battalions, three anti-aircraft machine gun regiments, three anti-aircraft searchlight regiments, two of which were formed, two regiments of the VNOS (Air Observation, Warning, and Communications Service), two aerostat regiments, separate communications battalions, and training units. These forces totaled 500 fighter aircraft, 1,560 anti-aircraft guns, 430 anti-aircraft machine guns, 1,300 searchlights, and 1,060 barrage balloons.
The creation of the front was credited with improving the air defense command and control system. In mid-1942 the fighter regiments of the 6th IAK were moved to aerodromes that allowed them to intercept German bombers approaching the city.
The public source identifies “Moscow Air Defense Front” as military unit. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Moscow, Defense and Front.
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This entry incorporates text from “Moscow Air Defense Front” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.