Scorching of a Shrine

Novgorod is a terrible sight. It is a cemetery of living corpses.

Guerrillas said this last week of what had been one of the most beautiful cities in Russia. Novgorod means New Town, but Russia boasts few that are older. In the Ninth Century the New Town already exercised supremacy over the other towns of Russia's northwestern lake district. By the 13th Century, the place called itself "Sovereign Great Novgorod" and its Kremlin was already about as old as any structure in the U.S. is now. The Kremlin's newer stone walls were begun in 1302. Through the years the city accumulated hundreds of priceless relics, such as the great Twelfth Century bronze doors of the Cathedral of St. Sophia.

But Stukas have no reverence for relics. The guerrillas reported that only 56 houses remained standing in all Novgorod.

Brick buildings are rubble; wooden buildings are ashes. The Kremlin is a collection of shells. From ruins the Germans have torn window frames and doors for their dugouts. Every store has been looted. The inhabitants who remain have no food but potatoes, and these are often taken from them by soldiers. Anyone who appears in the streets by night is shot.

The guerrillas' account of the New Order in the New Town suggested that not all of Russia's famous earth-scorching has been done by the defenders.

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