 They were shown the devastation in Oryol and Rzhev soon after the occupying Nazi troops retreated in March 1943.Several weeks after the Soviet liberation of Kiev on November 6, 1943, Downs, Bill Lawrence of "The New York Times", and several other American and Russian journalists were escorted by Soviet authorities to the site of the Babi Yar massacres.They came across bits of human remains and old possessions at the site.