On 15 July 1942, Rokossovsky was transferred to take command of the Bryansk Front as part of new command arrangements made by Soviet High Command in response to the disastrous Battle of Voronezh (1942). General Zhukov, the commander of Western Front, requested that STAVKA appoint Lieutenant-General Hovhannes Bagramyan, the deputy commander of the right flank 61st Army as the commander of the 16th Army in Rokossovsky's place.