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Hello everybody! Thanks for solving our little challenge from the last dev blog! Today's topic regards the map ‘Dolgelin’, which we want to show you and talk about! This week’s devblog comes courtesy of the project’s level design lead.
The Battle of the Seelow Heights
The Battle of the Seelow Heights was one of the last offensives against the Third Reich before the capture of Berlin. The major battle, also known as the battle of the Oder, marked the end of the German eastern front. Amidst the center of the Soviet main attack lies stranded the village of Dolgelin, which was an important spot to reach the ridge of the Seelow Heights, a well prepared defensive position, which provided perfect cover for German troops to hold the frontline in the north of the area. In April 1945, the Soviets reached the road towards Dolgelin, and the Germans were hence commanded to blockade it at all costs.
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Did you know?
Field Marshal Zhukov prepared a cunning tactic when attacking the Seelow Heights. Before dawn, a staggering array of searchlights would be switched on towards the germans. This was to clear the way for the Soviet infantry and also aimed to demoralise and scare the Germans. However, they were quickly switched off since they did not complete the roles they were intended to, instead outlining the silhouettes of the soviet infantry to the German trenches.
The road towards Dolgelin included two anti tank ditches, right and left of the road, as first defending line. The high and soft ground next to the street made it hard for Soviet tanks to outflank the dangerous position. They were forced to drive on the main pathways, which was making them easy targets for the Germans.
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With heavy casualties on both sides, the Soviets were able to breach the small sector, advancing into the little village, which was additionally strengthened with tank traps. In April 16, 1945, six Kingtigers belonging to the heavy SS Panzerabteilung 502 were used to defend the second defensive line at the crossroads (railway transition) at the village of Dolgelin. Soon enough they fought against 20 T-34s of the 1st Guards' Armored Brigade, which they were able to defeat. When it got dark, the heavy tanks were forced to retreat, because they lacked the immediate protection of their own infantry, and the cost of having lost such valuable tanks were too high to run the risk.
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The Germans, as it happened often in late war, used the special landscape (in this example the Seelow Heights) in their favor. The elevated ground was excellent for heavy anti-tank guns positions and to keep the overview over the battlefield, which leaded to big advantages within the fights.
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Did you know?
In its area of attack, the Soviet 1st armored army deployed with about 600 tanks and self-propelled vehicles between the Seelow Heights line and Sachsendorf area (ca. 10 km). From a statistical point of view, this would mean that there was a soviet tank rolling each 10m along the front. The unit strength relation (men) of the whole Battle of Seelow was about 10:1.
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What are your impressions about the Dolgelin area? What points were most interesting for you? Is there something additionally that you like to know? Please share your ideas and discuss below in the comments.
Last but not least, we hope you had some excellent time during christmas and we wish you a great start to 2018, which will be the year so many of you are waiting for!