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As far as I can tell (correct me if I am wrong), it seems to be conventional wisdom that the best use of the Soviet's top commanders such as Zhukov, Tolbukhin, Vatutin, etc is for them to command armies, not fronts (or STAVKA).

But there are a lot of armies. If you use all your best commanders on the armies, then there are not a lot of generals left over to command Fronts. So what is the basis for picking front commanders? And when is it worth replacing/upgrading front commanders?

early on, you want to get Tolbukhin, Malinovski and that generation of leaders into an army command (& one that will win a lot). They will pick up a few pts that way, get promoted which makes them much cheaper to move into a Front.

The leadership maths for the Soviets are brutal. If an army commander has 5 or less for a variable, then at least 50% of their checks are going to the Front to hopefully pass. Good Front commanders are much more essential than good army commanders for the Germans

Stavka it really depends where the front lines are. If you are fighting between Mosoow and Smolensk, Zhukov is a good choice, there is not much of a range malus and till you get the leaders (& admin pts), he can compensate for gaps in your Front leadership, won't help much on the fringes of course.

In general, don't move Stavka from Moscow, placed on a NSS its incredibly useful to repair SUs without having to send them to the reserve.