The Southern Front then retreated in the face of the latter's Moscow offensive, launching a counterattack in August that advanced into northeastern Ukraine and to the Don River.

With its rear disrupted by White cavalry raids, the front retreated north in September and early October, moving as far as Orel.

In October the front launched a counteroffensive, defeating the AFSR, leading to the latter's precipitate retreat to the Black Sea by early January.

It had been formed on 10 June as the Separate Expeditionary Corps from troops assigned to suppress the Vyoshenskaya uprising, but was disbanded on 1 July.

On 23 July, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic ordered that the 9th and 10th Armies become a shock group directly subordinated to him for the main attack against the AFSR towards Rostov and Novocherkassk.

The front then retreated in the face of Denikin's Moscow offensive, relinquishing Kiev, Odessa, Kursk, Voronezh, and Orel between August and October.

Its forces attacked towards Kharkov, capturing Biryuch, Valuyki, Volchansk, Kupyansk, and Pavlovsk, reaching the Don and Khopyor Rivers, and defended in the area of Tsaritsyn and Kamyshin.

[1] During the Orel–Kursk operation between 11 October and 18 November, the front's forces recaptured Kromy, Orel, Fatezh, Sevsk, Lgov, Dmitriyev, and Kursk.

On 25 October, with the defeat of the AFSR, the Outer Southern Defense Region was disbanded and its troops used to form the 61st Rifle Division.

In the Donbas operation, it crossed the Seversky Donets, capturing Izyum, Slavyansk, Bakhmut, Debaltsevo, Gorlovka, Ilovaysk, Konstantinovka, Lugansk, and Mariupol.

Its troops inflicted heavy losses on the Armed Forces of South Russia, and fought in the Rostov–Novocherkassk Operation between 3 and 10 January, capturing Taganrog, Novocherkassk, Rostov-on-Don, and Tikhoretsk, reaching the Sea of Azov.

[4] A key role in front operations was played by Nestor Makhno's anarchist Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine.

[1] In September and October, the front fought against the Russian Army in northern Taurida, repulsing its attacks towards the Donbas, Nikopol and Aleksandrovsk, which aimed at creating a bridgehead on the Dnieper's right bank.

In a counteroffensive in northern Taurida between 28 October and 3 November, the front's troops advanced out of the Kakhovka bridgehead, capturing Perekop, Henichesk, Agayman, Melitopol, Nizhniye Serogozy, Salkovo, and Chongar.

[4] During the Perekop–Chongar operation between 7 and 17 November it broke through Russian Army defenses on the Isthmus of Perekop, crossing the Sivash and capturing the Lithuanian peninsula, the fortified Turkish Wall, Yushun, and Chongar positions.

After breaking through at Perekop, the front advanced into Crimea, capturing Simferopol, Feodosiya, Sevastopol, Kerch, and Yalta, forcing the Russian Army to evacuate.