Hi everyone, we’re back with an update to keep you posted about current development.
In this one, we’ll show you what we’ve been up to in the mission building department. We’ll also mention some other stuff, keep reading!
Development
We’ve been very busy in all areas and there’s good progress.
The human skins update is still being worked on, we’ve developed new maps, finished the work on the lend-lease vehicles - there’s just never a dull moment. Currently we’re obviously also working to get those bugs out that were reported, and we will keep doing so.
One of the things that gets us close to finalizing the content for “Ostfront” is the 6th German campaign mission. When we push this to the public version, the SP campaigns have been completed (for now).
In this update we will talk you through a battle that took place south - east of Leningrad in february of 1943.
The battle of Krasny Bor
This battle took place when the Soviet operation “Polyarnaya Zvezda” was started. This offensive basically followed another one called “Iskra” which had broken the siege of Leningrad by liberating a corridor along lake Ladoga. The aim was to encircle the bulk of the German 18th army, thereby lifting the Leningrad siege completely. It turned into a hellish battle.
On february 10th, the offensive started rolling. Around 1.000 artillery guns had bombarded the German positions around Krasny Bor. The town itself was bombarded as well. The aim was to attack from the direction of Leningrad, break through to the south- east, where it was to link up with Soviet troops attacking towards the north- west, on the other end of the German salient.
Soldiers of the Spanish Blue Division in 1942
The attack by the 63rd guards rifle division was met by the 5.900 Spanish troops of the 250th Infantry Division, or the Spanish “blue division”, who were holding the east side of the position around Krasny Bor. Unable to retreat into Krasny Bor itself, many Spanish units got surrounded. Since their motto was “No possible relief, until extinction”, they defended their positions, most of them getting killed.
Meanwhile, other Spanish units had inflicted heavy damage to the advancing Soviets from their trenches and dugouts, using Molotov cocktails and grenades. They took an astonishing toll on the attacking tanks and blunted the attack.
Krasny Bor itself, and the railway station as well as the Leningrad- Moscow highway became a scene of utter destruction, while the station changed hands several times and wave after wave of attacks going back and forth while leaving many marks on the landscape. Quite a number of shell holes, bomb craters and trenches were still visible in 2020.
Krasny Bor in 2020; note the zig-zag trenches and the many shell holes
In the end, the Soviet offensive was stopped and the battle turned into a stalemate, in which the initial gains were followed by bitter fighting without big terrain gains for anyone.
The offensive was not successful in taking back the Leningrad- Moscow railway and highway. That meant that the German 18th army was still preventing a complete lift of the Leningrad siege, in spite of the massive effort. Losses had been appalling on both sides.
After the battle, Soviet reports concluded that the fortifications around Krasny Bor, combined with bad reconnaissance and “clumsy deployment of tanks” were the main causes of their 20.000+ losses in manpower during this battle. The Germans considered the Spanish fighting force “terribly undisciplined but unmatched in tenacity”.
Spanish casualties and losses were around 3.900, or 70- 75% in the blue division. It was to be sent back to Germany later, and disbanded. Parts of this mission have been built according to the memoirs of survivors.
The mission in Gates of Hell
The battle of Krasny Bor hasn’t been depicted in RTS games before, and we wish to pay tribute to the huge number of soldiers from many nationalities whose lives were lost in this battle.
In Gates of Hell, you will be facing the Soviet onslaught from your prepared positions, fighting as the Spanish Blue Division. Since we were going to give them this much attention, we added Spanish voices, names and their own nationality in the game, which was a requested feature. This addition will also affect multiplayer, where the Spanish unit will no longer speak German. We hope to be able to add more foreign units with this level of detail in the future.
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We researched the composition of the defending forces and we have depicted it historically. You will command several companies; infantry, artillery and AT detachments are at your disposal. You need to get your engineers to set up mine fields and obstacles quickly.
Suddenly, the alarm is raised; Russian tanks approaching the line!
What now? Fight!
Direct your soldiers to defend the several key areas you don’t want to lose. At every opportunity, loot as much enemy equipment as you can, because there’s not a lot in the way of AT guns at your disposal.
This is going to be a really tough one! Whatever happens, you cannot let the enemy overrun your HQ, which is in the field hospital.
As soon as you think the enemy attack is losing momentum, you will need to counterattack to take back any positions you might have lost.
This promises to be a bloody battle indeed. Good thing you have an actual hospital in the back, that will save many lives.
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Objectives and replay
In this mission, it will be up to you to decide how to stage your defence, and how many secondary quests you want to complete; the main thing is to survive and to hold the hospital HQ!
The mission was designed to have varied attacks; it will not become predictable very soon, because the enemy attacks differently every time you play it. This way we are quite sure it will have good replay value. Like in the Courland mission, we added the option of pre- battle doctrine selection. You will be able to specialise your available reinforcements and play the mission according to your own personal style.
Do you think you’d try this mission more than once with different doctrines? Let us know in the comments!
Did you know?
- Spain, officially not taking part in the second world war, suffered around 22.700 casualties on the entire eastern front
- Many of the Spanish soldiers had been forced to take service in the blue division, the real volunteers making up only around 80%. Many of these men were told to enlist, to “clear the names of their families” if they had fought for the Republicans during the Spanish civil war.
- The Spanish air force deployed a fighter unit on the Eastern Front, 15.(Span)/JG51, which fought up to the Battle of Moscow.
- There also were quite a number of Spanish volunteers fighting on the side of the Soviets during the war.
- Any question you might have is likely to get the quickest answer on our Discord server.
That’s it for now, stay tuned for the next update & see you on the battlefield!