It was active during the Winter War against Finland as part of the Leningrad Military District, beginning operations at the end of November 1939 under KomKor M.P.

Zakharov as chief of staff,[4] it was tasked to cover the Bălți, Chisinau, and Odesa approaches as part of General Ivan Tyulenev's Southern Front.

Still with Southern Front, 9th Army was then allotted a subsidiary part in the Kharkov offensive – the Second Battle of Kharkiv – which kicked off in May 1942.

Malinovskii, at once drew 5th Cavalry Corps, a rifle division, and a tank brigade out of reserve in an attempt to halt Von Kleist.

However discussions and decisions at Stavka about breaking off the Kharkov offensive in response did not come quickly enough, and 6th and 57th Armies were surrounded in the Izyum pocket with the loss of 200,000 plus men in casualties alone.

Later, as part of the North Caucasian and Transcaucasian Fronts, the Army fought on the big bend of the river Don (in the summer of 1942), and participated in the Battle of the Caucasus.

Note: This order of battle disagrees in the matter of the 150th Rifle Division with material from David Glantz, Stumbling Colossus