The first formation was created on May 20, 1942 and was commanded by
Marshal Semyon M. Budenny throughout its existence. The Front incorporated forces from the (disbanded)
Crimean Front and received additional forces from the (disbanded)
Southern Front on July 28, 1942. The Front was composed of •
44th Soviet Army (Andrei Khryashchev and
Ivan Yefimovich Petrov), •
47th Soviet Army (
Grigory Kotov), •
51st Soviet Army (
Nikolai Kirichenko and
Trofim Kolomiets). The
1st Rifle Corps reappeared in the Soviet OOB on 1 June 1942, directly subordinated to the North Caucasus Front, and was made up of four rifle brigades. The North Caucasus Front at different times also included the 9th, 12th, 18th, 24th, 37th, 56th Army, 4th and 5th Air Army. The Front also had operational control over • the Sevastopol Defence Region, • the
Separate Coastal Army (
Ivan Yefimovich Petrov), • the
Black Sea Fleet, • the
Azov Flotilla. The task of the North Caucasus Front was to keep the Sevastopol defensive area and to defend the border of the Don River and the coasts of the Black and Azov Seas. The isolated city of
Sebastopol fell on July 4, 1942. From July 25 to August 5, 1942, the front troops fought heavy defensive battles in the lower reaches of the Don, and then in the
Stavropol and
Krasnodar area's. In August–September 1942, the front troops conducted the
Armavir-Maikop and
Novorossiysk operations, but were unable to prevent the enemy from breaking in the Caucasus along the Black Sea. On September 1, 1942 the Front was reorganized as the
Black Sea Group of Forces and assigned to the
Transcaucasian Front during the German occupation of the
Krasnodar Krai. == Second Creation ==