Succeeded as its chief of staff by Colonel M. I. Peshekhontsev, Major-General Krutikov was named 7th Independent Army commanding officer in January 1943 and promoted to lieutenant-general in April 1943.

Assisted by Naval Infantry assaults launched by the Northern Fleet, the Front forced German troops in the Finnish north to begin a retreat into Norway on 15 October.

[4] The Red Army's successful operations in the far north were recognized with Kirill Meretskov's promotion to Marshal of the Soviet Union on 26 October 1944.

In spring 1945, Meretskov had Krutikov appointed his chief of staff when made commander of the Maritime Group of Forces along the borders of the Soviet Far East, with Stavka's reorganization of the Soviet forces in preparation for an assault on the Kwantung Army of the Japanese making Meretskov and Krutikov the newly organized 1st Far Eastern Front in August 1945.

[5] Concurrently, elements of the Front's 25th Army fought into Japanese Korea with the support of Naval Infantry deployed by the Pacific Ocean Fleet.

[5] Despite complete encirclement by Soviet forces, Kwantung Army resistance in Manchuria lingered for several more days and was especially stiff at Mudanjiang, a Japanese stronghold blocking the way to Harbin and Jilin.

On 15–16 August, some of the most intense fighting in Manchuria took place as the 1st Far Eastern Front's 1st Red Banner and 5th Armies forced the Mudan River and captured Mudanjiang.

The 1st Far Eastern Front was disbanded at the end of the war in 1945, with Marshal Meretskov being made commander of the Soviet Far East's Maritime Military District and Lieutenant-General Krutikov remaining as his chief of staff.