The Front of the Reserve Armies was an operational–strategic formation, one of the fronts of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union, during the Great Patriotic War.
[1] It was created in the Western (Moscow) Strategic Direction by decision of the Supreme High Command Headquarters on July 14, 1941 with the task of organizing early defense on the Staraya Russa – Ostashkov – Bely – Istomino – Yelnya – Bryansk line (the line is about 750 kilometers long).
In the 1st echelon of the front, the following were deployed:[3] The 31st[3] and 32nd Armies remained in reserve.
The main areas in the defense of the Front of the Reserve Armies were the Kalinin, Vyazma and Tula.
On July 20, 1941, 14 divisions from the armies of the 1st echelon of the front were allocated for counter–attacks in the Smolensk region.