Abbreviation of 17 military districts of the
USSR at the beginning July 1940: • BOVO –
Belorussian Special Military District () (from 11.7.40 ZapOVO – Western Special military district () • KOVO –
Kiev Special Military District () • ArkhVO –
Arkhangelsk Military District () • ZabVO –
Transbaikal Military District () • ZakVO –
Transcaucasian Military District () • KalVO –
Kalinin Military District (abolished by 11.7.1940) () • LVO –
Leningrad Military District () • MVO –
Moscow Military District () • OdVO –
Odessa Military District () • OrVO –
Orel Military District () • PribVO –
Baltic Military District () (formed 11.07.40, from August 17, 1940 renamed into PribOVO - Baltic Special Military District ()) • PriVO –
Volga Military District () • SAVO –
Central Asian Military District () • SibVO –
Siberian Military District () • SKVO –
North Caucasus Military District () • UrVO –
Ural Military District () • KhVO –
Kharkov Military District () Formations in the territory of
Khabarovsk and
Primorsky Krai were combined into the
1st and
2nd independent Red Banner Armies which, after January 14, 1941, were reformed into the
Far Eastern Front.
World War II The number of military districts varied depending on the circumstances and with the evolution of the
Soviet Army. Before the
eastern campaign of 1941–45, there were 16 military districts and one
front although this number fluctuated and as many as 25 military districts existed at different time before the war. North and North Western districts •
Arkhangel Military District •
Belomorsky Military District •
Leningrad Military District •
Baltic special military district •
Kalinin Military District West and Central USSR districts •
Western special military district •
Moscow Military District •
Yaroslavl Military District •
Orel Military District •
Steppe Military District •
Kiev special military district South and South Western districts •
Ukrainian Military District •
Kharkov Military District created 1919 1st formation, (1935 - 1941), 2nd formation used for formation of the
18th Army, 3rd formation in September 1943, disbanded and amalgamated into the Kiev Military district in June 1946 as the
21st Army •
Odessa Military District •
Tauric Military District created from
Separate Coastal Army and
22nd Army on 9 July 1945. Incorporated into Odessa Military District 4 April 1956. •
Trans-Volga Military District (for
Trans-Volga Region) •
Transcaucasian Military District •
North Caucasus Military District Siberian and Central Asian districts •
Volga Military District •
Ural Military District •
Western Siberian Military District •
Siberian Military District •
Central Asian Military District •
Turkestan regional military commissariat Far Eastern districts •
Eastern Siberian Military District •
Far Eastern Military District •
Transbaikal Military District Right after the war, the number was increased to 35 to aid in demobilisation of forces, but by October 1946, they had been reduced to 21.
Cold War era in the former Kazakh SSR. At the end of the 1980s, immediately before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, there were sixteen military districts, within three to five main groupings: • Western Theatre •
Western Strategic Direction •
Group of Soviet Forces in Germany •
Northern Group of Forces (Poland) •
Central Group of Forces (Czechoslovakia) •
Baltic Military District •
Belorussian Military District •
Carpathian Military District •
South-Western Strategic Direction •
Southern Group of Forces (Hungary) •
Odessa Military District •
Kiev Military District • Northwestern Theatre •
Leningrad Military District • Far Eastern Strategic Direction/Theatre •
Siberian Military District •
Transbaikal Military District •
Far Eastern Military District •
Central Asian Military District • Southern Theatre •
Transcaucasian Military District •
North Caucasus Military District •
Turkestan Military District • Central Reserve •
Moscow Military District •
Volga Military District •
Ural Military District ==References==