Explore Berlin in Random Battles!

Want to take an exciting walk through historic, mid-20th century Berlin, Commanders?

Thanks to World of Tanks, you’ll soon have a chance to explore the German capital as it was during the final weeks of World War II in Europe. With update 1.9.1, a fascinating new map, Berlin, will be added to Random Battles. Let's take a closer look at its key features.

History of Creation

The idea of ​​creating a “Berlin” map isn’t new. It struck us a long time ago. Over the years, we’ve worked on various concepts for it, even introducing some Berlin-themed locations into the game. World of Tanks veterans may remember 2015’s event, which had a locale of the same name.

Since then, we have repeatedly returned to the idea of ​​creating a “Berlin” map for Random Battles, but only recently have our plans borne fruit. It will be a picturesque 1050x1050-meter map divided into four main areas. When working on the Berlin locale, we tried to create a detailed reproduction of the German capital during the last weeks of World War II in Europe. Here’s a quick overview of this atmospheric map.

Take a Stroll Through Historic Berlin!

We paid great attention to historical accuracy and constantly worked with archival photographs of Berlin at that time. The environment, historic buildings, and monuments have been diligently recreated in stunning HD format. Among other landmarks, you will find:

  • Reichstag
  • Brandenburg Gate
  • Kroll Opera House
  • Lehrter Station (Lehrter Bahnhof)
  • Tiergarten Park
  • And more

Take a virtual walk around the German capital of the mid-20th century and discover its main attractions faithfully recreated down to the smallest detail.

To pay great respect to the heritage of Berlin, we tried to recreate the spirit of the German capital at that time as accurately as possible. We used numerous materials from more than 300 publicly available sources, including:

  • historical landscape and plot photos
  • archival aerial photography
  • vintage lithographs, engravings, and postcards

And when this wasn’t enough, we even used authentic architectural plans of the city! For example, we experienced difficulties finding images of the western facade of the Kroll Opera House. To recreate the Opera House in the game, we searched as far back as 1846 for architectural plans that could guide our reproduction of this legendary building.

In general, all edifices and monuments correspond to the architectural style of 1940s Berlin, and the city plan has been reproduced with the highest possible historical accuracy. But for the sake of gameplay, some elements of the environment, buildings, and damage to objects have been changed or added to the map.

Below is a gallery with archive photos of Berlin for you to compare the main landmarks in the game with the historical buildings on which they were based.

Source: Manfred Niermann – own archive. Lehrter Bahnhof, Berlin 1957. CC-BY-SA 4.0

Source: Manfred Niermann – own archive. Lehrter Bahnhof, Berlin 1957. CC-BY-SA 4.0

Source: No 5 Army Film & Photographic Unit. Hewitt (Sgt) - This is a photograph BU 8573 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums

Source: Bundesarchiv, B 145 Bild-P054320 / Weinrother, Carl / CC-BY-SA 3.0

Gameplay Features

The Berlin map will only be available for Standard and Encounter Battles in vehicles Tier IV and higher. There are four main battle zones.

Urban zone in the upper (northern) part of the map. In this area, heavy tanks and assault tank destroyers will fight face-to-face to find out who's strongest. Numerous historic buildings will allow you to shoot from behind cover using a hull-down position.

Central zone with canals, a construction site, and a spectacular bunker for fast and maneuverable medium tanks. Despite having lots of cover, this area is vulnerable to enemy artillery, but it bears strategic importance. By taking this area, medium tanks will be able to control the entire center and fire at vehicles in the urban zone.

Tiergarten Park (open space zone). This part of the map is at the mercy of light tanks as they can use passive, and sometimes active, spotting tactics.

Firing positions for long-range sniping on the western flank. These areas will allow vehicles of the second and third lines to reach their full potential so that they can act as support and prevent any breakthroughs along the line.

Moltke Monument

The statue of Helmuth von Moltke the Elder by Joseph Uphues was first placed opposite the Kroll Opera House in 1905. Now it is located near the Berlin Victory Column in Tiergarten park.

Kroll Opera House

This opera building in Berlin served as the assembly hall for the German Reichstag parliament from 1933 to 1942. It was severely damaged in the Battle of Berlin and was finally demolished in 1951.

Reichstag

This historic edifice in Berlin opened in 1894 and housed the Imperial Diet of the German Empire until 1933 when it was severely damaged by arson. Since 1999, the Bundestag, the federal parliament of modern Germany, has convened in the reconstructed Reichstag.

Tiergarten Park

One of the largest city parks in Berlin, Tiergarten was founded in the 16th century as a hunting area. It suffered greatly during the war as only 700 trees survived out of an original 200,000. Since 1961, Tiergarten Park has been in a process of gradual restoration.

Brandenburg Gate

The last remaining town gate of Berlin, it was built in 1788–1791 and is comprised of 12 Doric columns crowned with a Quadriga statue depicting the Roman goddess of victory.

Hugo Bridge

A spectacular bridge built in 1928 over the southern part of Humboldthafen harbor. It was badly damaged in the Battle of Berlin and was later disassembled. In 2002, a new bridge was built in its place.

Lehrter Station (Lehrter Bahnhof)

Built in 1843, Lehrter was one of eight railway stations in Berlin. It was badly damaged during the war before being demolished in 1951.

Firing positions for long-range sniping on the eastern flank. These areas will allow vehicles of the second and third lines to reach their full potential so that they can act as support and prevent any breakthroughs along the line.

Firing positions for long-range sniping on the eastern flank. These areas will allow vehicles of the second and third lines to reach their full potential so that they can act as support and prevent any breakthroughs along the line.

Firing positions for long-range sniping on the eastern flank. These areas will allow vehicles of the second and third lines to reach their full potential so that they can act as support and prevent any breakthroughs along the line.

Firing positions for long-range sniping on the western flank. These areas will allow vehicles of the second and third lines to reach their full potential so that they can act as support and prevent any breakthroughs along the line.

Firing positions for long-range sniping on the western flank. These areas will allow vehicles of the second and third lines to reach their full potential so that they can act as support and prevent any breakthroughs along the line.

We’ve used various visual effects to achieve a realistic and dynamic battlefield atmosphere, even including photorealistic vertical and horizontal clouds of smoke. You may also observe dust in the air drifting down symbolically as the end of the war draws near.

Andrius Klimka - Berlin (Intro) : Andrius_Klimka_-_Berlin_(intro)
Andrius Klimka & Andrey Kulik - Berlin (Battle) : Andrey_Kulik_feat._Andrius_Klimka_-_Berlin_(battle)

Get ready to battle on the Berlin map, Commanders! Explore the city and share your feedback!

Discuss on Discord

Close