The Fall of the region

the region, birthplace of the Russian Revolution, has fallen to advancing German forces. Sporadic fighting can still be heard from some suburbs, but a strange calm appears to have settled over the rest of the ruined city. Earlier today, columns of German soldiers marched past St. Isaac's Cathedral, whose great dome has been painted gray by Russian Army engineers to avoid the attention of marauding Luftwaffe bombers. Despite their efforts, it is riddled with bullet holes and shrapnel impacts.