The name indicated the primary geographical region in which the front first fought, based on the town of Voronezh on the Don River.

In 1945, the front participated in the Vistula-Oder offensive, and conducted the Silesian and Prague Operations, and the siege of Breslau.

The front also conducted the major part of the Halbe Encirclement, in which most of the German 9th Army was destroyed south of Berlin.

Finally 1st Ukrainian Front provided the defence against the counter-attacks by Armee Wenck which aimed to relieve Berlin and the 9th Army, later uniting with the Americans on the Elbe River.

Following the war, the Front headquarters formed the Central Group of Forces of the Red Army in Austria and Hungary till 1955, and re-instituted in 1968 in Czechoslovakia as a legacy of the Prague Spring events.