It was commanded throughout its existence by Dmitr Timofeyevich Kozlov, and was made up of It also had operational control over It was formed on 28 January 1942 by splitting the Caucasian front and included the armies then in the Kerch and Taman peninsulas and the region of Krasnodar, along with operational control over other forces.

Its troops went on the offensive three times from February 27 to April 13, 1942, but made no significant progress, and after minor gains they were forced onto the defensive.

Some troops were unable to evacuate and fought the Germans at Adzhimushkay until the end of October of the same year, with no significant stocks of food, water, medicine, arms, or ammunition.

The Red Army lost over 300,000 men in the Kerch landings, and a large amount of its heavy weaponry.

The landings' failure was also a major factor in the Soviet loss of Sevastopol in July 1942, and helped make possible the German summer offensive into the Caucasus.