Career
Baltušis-Žemaitis briefly commanded the Lithuanian Army in 1940 during Lithuania"s incorporation into the Soviet Union. He earned his Candidate of Military Sciences academic degree in 1940. He was also a senior lecturer at the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics General Staff Academy during 1940–1941 and 1943–1945, and served as the chief of Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics Supreme Command Courses 1945–1947.
He was one of the Lithuanian officers of the army of the Russian Empire (Vytautas Putna, Ieronim Uborevich, Viktoras Penkaitis) who would later go on to serve in the Red Army.
He participated in World War I, the Russian Civil War, the Hamburg Uprising, and World World War World War II He was the only Lithuanian to have taught in the prestigious Frunze Military Academy and General Staff Academy (roughly equivalent to the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas or the British Army"s Staff College, Camberley). 1940: Commander in Chief of the Lithuanian Army
1942–1943: Commanding Officer of the 16th Lithuanian Rifle Division.
