Background
Ivan Chernyakhovsky was born in 1906. His father was a railwayman who died of typhus when his son was nine.
Ivan Chernyakhovsky was born in 1906. His father was a railwayman who died of typhus when his son was nine.
In 1928 he finished the officer's school in Kiev.
He joined the Red Army in 1924 and the CP when commissioned four years later. By 1940 he was a colonel commanding the 28th Tank Div in the Baltic Special MD. Opposing the German drive on Leningrad that started in June 1941. Chernyakhovsky handled his forces well as part of the 18th Tank Corps and was promoted. Gen Maj Chernyakhovsky fought south of Leningrad until July 1942 and was promoted to general lieutenant. He then led the 60th Army, taking part in the Kursk offensive of 1943 and was promoted in Mar 44 to general colonel. In Apr 1944 he took over the Western Front just before it was renamed the 3d Belorussian Front (24 Apr).
In Opn Bagration, 22 June-29 Aug 1944 he made the main effort in the north around Vitebsk. Opposed by G. H. Reinhardt’s crack 3d Pz Army, he quickly encirled Vitebsk and trapped the 53d Corps. Chernyakhovsky was promoted on 26 June 1944. just three days before his 38th birthday, to general of the army. After opn Bagration had destroyed AG Center, Chernyakhovsky took part in the Baltic Offensive Operation, 14 Sep-24 Nov 1944, and in the drive into East Prussia that began 13 Jan 1945. In these campaigns he liberati Minsk, Vilna, and Kaunas.
While inspecting outside Koenigsberg the general was mortally wounded at Melzak. Poland, dying on 18 Feb 1945. One of the Red Army’s finest young front commanders, he was i buried in Vilna.
