responding to a German invasion, and ordered that troops be brought to combat readiness on 18 June. However, by 22 June, when Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, began, the district's newly formed units were not completely manned. When the war broke out, it included six rifle corps in the 8th, 11th, and 27th Armies, the 5th Airborne Corps, the 3rd and 12th Mechanized Corps, and six fortified regions. According to the district's plan, the 8th, 11th, and 27th Armies were to cooperate with the Baltic Fleet in defending the coast from Haapsalu to Palanga, focusing on the defense of the 300-kilometer border with East Prussia. On 22 June 1941 the District consisted of the: 8th Army 11th Army 27th Army 5th Airborne Corps and other smaller formations and units. 3rd Mechanised Corps was also located within the district at Vilnius. Air Forces comprised the 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 57th Mixed Aviation Divisions, two further regiments, and a last regiment in the process of formation earmarked for transporting 5th Airborne Corps. On 22 June, after the outbreak of the war, the district headquarters was used to form the headquarters of the Northwestern Front. Parts of the former district headquarters remained in Riga, led by the deputy district commander, evacuating to Valga on 1 July and then to Novgorod, where they were disbanded. Second formation The Baltic Military District was formed for a second time in accordance with a directive of the General Staff of the Red Army on 30 October 1943, although its assigned territory (the Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian Soviet Socialist Republics) was at that time still under German occupation. Its headquarters was formed in Vyshny Volochyok from that of the 58th Army, under the command of Major General Nikolay Biyazi. The district was disbanded on 23 March 1944, and was used to form the headquarters of the Odessa Military District. Post war Postwar, the district was formed for a third time on 9 July 1945 at Riga on the basis of Samland Group of Forces formed from the former 1st Baltic Front, under the command of Army General Ivan Bagramyan, who would lead it until 1954. It initially included only the Latvian and Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republics. Following the disbandment on 27 February 1946 of the Special Military District, which had been administering Kaliningrad Oblast (formerly East Prussia), the oblast was transferred to district