A quarter of a century after I left my native country, I had a unique chance to rediscover Russia. As one of the officers accompanying Major General Donald H. Connolly of the Persian Gulf Command on a mission to Russia early this year, I travelled for weeks across that war-torn country. We enjoyed an unprecedented opportunity closely to inspect its three great cities, Leningrad, Moscow, and Kiev, which Hitler had coveted so much.

Kiev actually endured German occupation for more than two years. Moscow flung back the Nazi hordes from its very gates but, most heroic of all cities, Leningrad withstood the most terrible siege in history and is only now resuming its new life.