Chernyakhovsky was the youngest High Commander of the Soviet Army. He was one of the few Jews to serve in the Army and owed much to ZHUKOV’s early recognition of his talents. As Commander in Chief of the 60th Army he recaptured Voronezh on January 1943 and then recaptured Kursk. He was given command of the 3rd Belorussian Front and in the Belorussian Offensive led the right pincer against Minsk and attacked the Third Panzer Army near Vitebsk. His armies then swept over Latvia and took Vilnyus (13 July 1944) and Kaunas on the east Prussian border. After a break in action he renewed the offensive against Konigsberg and broke through heavy German defenses. He was killed, however, in action near Mehlsack in February 1945 when he was hit by a shell fragment in close fighting.