History and Background by LarsFrom late 1942 to the end of the war, the Luftwaffe on the Eastern Front created specialist train hunting units. These were small in number, usually six to ten in strength, and often flew singly up to 300 miles behind enemy lines. At most they only had four to seven aircraft serviceable at best. Due to the vast expanse of the Russian tundra they often escaped attention until the Russian Operation Bagration in 1944 made it too difficult to survive even the stealthiest missions.
Download here:
https://www.mission4today.com/index.php?name=Downloads3&file=details&id=3208Several bomber wings allocated crews who dedicated their careers to attacking trains and, where needed, to tanks and artillery as well. Many crews managed up to 90 trains destroyed. A few claimed up to 6 trains in one sortie. This is low compared to Western efforts but the rail system was far wider spread in the east and not so concentrated. The terrain was limited to a few roads able to bear the vehicles of modern war and thus the railway was more vital for transporting goods and men. The rail system and area covered was so vast that these missions, although deadly to train crews, were only a pinprick in the greater scheme of things. However, the strikes the units made on railway stations such as during the Battle of Kursk were considered important as they hindered some Russian movements.
These units were called Eisenbahn and used various bombers for their deadly low level role.
13 Eis KG55 used the He111H16 equipped with six forward firing 20mm cannon. They devised an altitude regulator which allowed them to fly just 20 feet above railway lines in order to hit the trains from nowhere. The trains were often protected by many anti-aircraft guns so surprise was essential. In BAT we have the He111H16 but not the cannon armed loadout sadly. In 5000 missions this unit destroyed at least 72 trains among many other targets.
Several KG wings assigned a few crews, usually a particular staffel, to this role. As there are few records surviving of their activities, we have chosen to use KG3 as representative, and which historians such as Chris Goss and John Weal have painstakingly researched.
9 Eis KG1, 9 Eis KG3 and 7 Eis KG51 used the Ju88C6 with forward firing 20mm cannon in 1943. We have that model in BAT as the Ju88C6b.
9 Eis KG3 later merged with the crews of 9 Eis KG1 to form 14 Eis KG3 with Ju88C6s and added the Ju88P from March 1944 armed with heavier guns. We have the Ju88P1 modelled in BAT and it has an awesome 75mm cannon which carried 6 to 16 rounds and which was jettisonable in an emergency. There is debate whether this was used in combat but there are photographs showing it in Luftwaffe livery. About ten were flown in the East but numbers were low as it was difficult to maintain, especially in the chaotic conditions of 1944 onwards. The P4 was the most common variant, which was equipped with twin 37mm cannon under the nose.
The trainbuster was reinforced with armour protection but the DM of the Ju88A4, which the C6 and P models were based on, seems more fragile than it should be in the game. The units operated mostly in ones or twos so the problem of disobedient wingmen is not so annoying. Hopefully, they will help keep enemy fighters off the player but as we know they tend to go for you first before attacking AI, darn it.
Those who like to use multiple speeds on long missions to save time should be aware you may miss some trigger messages. We use both triggers and C&C objects in this campaign to aid the player in finding ground targets. This is a campaign you will need to fly, rather than use autopilot and the accelerator extensively. Missions will be between one and three hours.
Also the AI have a habit of repeated attacks which can end in flak damage. e.g. you can successfully attack a train three times manually then try to fly home. If you use AI to speed up the return then it will take you back to the target for one last strafe where you will more likely get hit by flak or fighters. The train busters were given extra armour in real life but this is not incorporated in our models. In fact I believe the Ju88 DM is weaker than it should be.
Anyway. We think the missions reflect the distances and terrain that these crews had to overcome to achieve their goals.
InstallationThis campaign was written and tested using the SAS BAT Mod Pack, available here at the SAS website:
https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php?board=264.0It may work on other modded systems but the campaign uses Command and Control objects and Triggers, so many mission features would be lost or unworkable without these features.
To install:
• Extract the TrainBusters.zip file to a temporary directory.
• Copy the decompressed Missions folder to your IL-2 1946 root folder.
• In the New Pilot Career page, choose Luftwaffe in the Air Force selection drop-down.
• Choose Eisenbahn, the Train Busters in the Career drop-down.
• We recommend turning off No Instant Success for this campaign.
• The campaign is designed to be compatible with any rank selection.
CreditsMany thanks to the BAT team for developing, maintaining, and improving the BAT Modpack. As in all of our campaigns, we make liberal use of Kurfurst’s mission templates, available at the Mission 4 Today site.
We all know how valuable skins are to campaign building and enjoyment. The Ju-88 skins we use in this campaign are from our late friend and colleague, Hayate. This campaign also uses skins from the BAT install and we do not know the author(s). If you spot a skin here that did not receive proper credit please let us know and we will rectify the oversight.
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Topic: Eisenbahn, The Train Busters - A campaign for BAT (Read 1379 times)
