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...