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[vonOben]

The Balkan campaign 1941 / Balkan-Kampagne 1941

This is a complete campaign mod for IL-2 1946 bult in BAT 4.2.3, also tested in BAT 4.3.

This campaign has been under development for a very long time!
I started with the historical research and made the Yugoslavian squadrons in February 2017.
And then I waited for the new version of DGenMod, with the new countries Greece and Yugoslavia, that was added in version 2.1.0.0.
My first intention was to make a normal DGen type of campaign, but then I switched my mind and turned for a more historic accurate one.
My goal was to include as many missions as possible, flying for a squadron at the correct time of day, to the correct target area and the appropriate mission type. Because of lack of historic information those historic missions are mixed with "best guess" type of missions, where the target area is to a likely area, but with the date and time and opposition may not be historically correct.
I've been testing the campaign, generating every campaign mission to find bugs, so it's thoroughly tested.

Campaign Information
The Balkan campaign 1941.
The campaign starts with the invasion of Yugoslavia, "Operation 25" started on 6 April. The invasion was made up of the various operational formations of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS, Italian Armed Forces and Hungarian Armed Forces that participated. The Axis ground forces had effectively surrounded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia before the invasion began. The Luftwaffe operated out of bases in Austria, Romania and Bulgaria. The Germans fielded 296 fighter aircraft, 89 light bombers, 26 medium bombers and 23 reconnaissance aircraft, and more than 318 dive bombers and 57 heavy fighters. In addition, a reconnaissance squadron equipped with Henschel Hs 126 two-seater reconnaissance aircraft was attached to most of the corps headquarters and every panzer division. Luftwaffe anti-aircraft units were also attached to the German land forces. German, Italian and Hungarian air support was concentrated in Austria, Italy, southern Hungary, southern Romania, western Bulgaria and Albania. In total, over 1,500 Axis aircraft were available to support the invasion. Naval forces were limited to a few destroyers of the Royal Italian Navy (Italian: Regia Marina) operating in the Adriatic Sea. Fliegerführer Arad was commanded by Oberstleutnant Clemens Graf von Schönborn-Wiesentheid, commander of the StG 77. With its headquarters in Arad, Romania, it consisted of the headquarters, I and III Groups of StG 77, headquarters, II and III Groups of the JG 77, one squadron of II Group of JG 54, III Group of JG 54 and I Group of the ZG 26. In total, Fliegerführer Arad had 116 fighters, 31 heavy fighters and 68 dive bombers available to support the invasion.
At this point the only campaign included is the Luftwaffe III./JG 77 campaign, but it can be expanded in the future if there is any interest. And if so please let me know which campaigns you would like to have included.
DGenMOD 2.1.0.0 allows you to more accurately reproduce the conditions for historical missions. This feature allows you to set up missions to specific target areas at a specified date & time and with specified weather. Transfer missions only allow for mission date and the new airfield, but it's not possible to specify time and weather.
All campaigns should have correct airfields and transfers and most of the missions are based on historical conditions.
When the historically correct airfield is not present on the IL-2 maps. I've used nearby airfields instead.

ANSON_M2
BEAUMKI
BF_109E3
BF_109E4
BF_109E4B
BF_109E7
BF_110C4B
BF_110D3
BLENHEIM1
BLENHEIM4
CR_42
Ca_311
CantZ1007bis
Do17Z_0  (used as a stand-in instead of the models that were used by YRAF: Do 17K)
Do17Z_2
Do_22K
Do_22L
F2A_B339
FI_156
FiatBr20M
Fury_S
G50bisA
GLADIATOR1
GLADIATOR2
HE_111P4
HE_60
HS_123A1
Hs126A_1
HurricaneMkIa
IK_3
JU_52_3MG4E
JU_87B1
JU_87B2
JU_87R2
JU_88A4
Lysander_1
MB_151
MC_200_3
P_24F
P_24G 
RAPID
Ro37bis
Ro43
SEAGLADIATOR2
SM79i
Short_Sunderland
Swordfish1

Screenshots





























Requirements
This dynamic (DGen) campaign includes Asura’s DGenMOD 2.1.0.0, required with all of its files as included. As a consequence, this is a standalone campaign: do not try to play it at same time with other DGen campaigns (you can play static campaigns, though).
Other versions of Asura’s DGenMOD, different from that contained in this pack will not work!

The following planes, objects and mods are included since they are missing in BAT 4.2.3:
Map edits: Greece: Added some airfields and replaced a few tree.tga textures with edited default versions. 
Map edits: Yugoslavia: Light version of actors.static and replaced one texture to default version.
New Squadrons: Greece and Yugoslavia by vonOben.
Stationary Planes (BF_110D3, Do_22K, Fury_S, JU_87B1,RAPID, Ro37bis and Ro43) by vonOben.

Installation
Since this campaign does alter stock files, and replaces DGen.exe, some Asura’s files and BAT ini files with custom ones, it is highly recommended to install (and remove, when finished) by Jone Soft Generic Mod Enabler. So open the 7z-file and extract to your BATMODS folder in the IL-2 1946 main folder and activate through JSGME.
When done, open the menu to start a new career for Luftwaffe, and you’ll see listed “Balkan-Kampagne 1941”.

Usage
DGenMOD campaigns are generated exactly the same as any ordinary DGen campaign.

The following sub-campaigns are included:
Yugoslavia, 6 – 13 April, 1941   (7 missions)
Greece, 14 April - 14 May, 1941   (20 missions)
Crete, 15 - 29 May, 1941      (13 missions) //40 missions total

Credits
_Harpia_Mafra55   Who made a BF_109E7 & JU_87B1 skins.
102nd-yu-Patak   Who made the IK_3 skin.
150GCT_Italo   Who made the SM79i skin.
Asura      The creator of DGenMOD, who have helped me a lot when I've run into problems.
CanonUK      Who made a BF_109E7 & Swordfish1 skins.
dona      Who made a Do_22K skin.
EMEL      Who made the JU_87B2 skin.
falkster   Who made the JU_88A4 skin.
HAYATE      Who made the HS_123A1 skin.
IMME      Who made a BF_109E4 skin.
LAUFER      Who made the Do17Z_2 & JU_52_3MG4E and the YRAF FI_156 & HurricaneMkIa skin.
Mission_bug   Who made the ANSON_M2 skin.
OBELIX      Who made the BF_109E3 skin.
RANWERS      Who made the Do17Z_0 skin.
stiv_069   Who made the RAPID template.
TRENTINCO   Who made the BLENHEIM1 skin.
vpmedia      Who made the CR_42, Do17Z_0, FI_156, HE_111P4, JU_87R2 skins.
Winger69   Who made the G50bisA skin.   


Who did the other skins is unknown to me, since I found them in the BAT skinpack and in other SCW campaigns.


Reference
The campaign is based on the historical information collected from the following sources:

Books:
Air War for Yugoslavia, Greece and Crete 1940-41
Messerschmitt Bf 109 - The Yugoslav Story - Volume I
Luftwaffe Colours - Jagdwaffe Vol 3.1 - Strike in the Balkans, April-May 1941

Internet:
http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/gladiator_greece.htm
http://www.historyofwar.org
http://www.schlaweck.com/raf_maleme.htm
https://aus-der-zeit.site/kriegszeit-1941-balkanfeldzug/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Crete
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Greece_order_of_battle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_invasion_of_Greece
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Yugoslavia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Yugoslavia_order_of_battle:_Axis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Yugoslavia_order_of_battle:_Yugoslav
https://falkeeins.blogspot.com/2019/10/uffz-rudolf-schmidt-5-staffel-jg-77.html
https://stefanov.no-ip.org/MagWeb/europa/13/eu13gree.htm
https://stratistoria.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/abridged-history-of-the-greek-italian-and-greek-german-war-1940-1941-6-the-battles-in-central-and-western-macedonia-the-withdrawal-and-the-capitulation-of-the-epir/
https://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=36
https://www.aeroflight.co.uk/waf/yugo/jkrv/yugo-af1-bases.htm
https://www.asisbiz.com/Battles/RA-Units.html
https://www.britishmilitaryhistory.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/124/2023/12/Chronology-of-Events-Greece.pdf
https://www.flugrevue.de/klassiker/balkan-und-kretaeinsatz-beim-jagdgeschwader-77-messerschmitt-bf-109-im-fronteinsatz/
https://www.haf.gr/en/history/historical-aircraft/
https://www.stormomagazine.com/Articles/HistoryArticles_Greece.htm
https://www.ww2.dk/
https://znaci.org/na-danasnji-dan.php?dan=6&mesec=4&godina=1941

Feedback
Feedback and suggestions would be appreciated.
Also historic information that would make this campaign more accurate would also be very welcome.

Download:
http://vonoben.free.fr/   Il-2 1946 Misc files page

Best regards

vonOben

[raf1659]

Thanks !   

[JCC]

Thank you, Sir!

I do have a couple of Dgen Campaigns running at the moment and if I understand you right (I should, but better safe than sorry, hence the following question ) I do need to close down those before I run this Campaign, right?
..
After what felt like hundreds of disappointing loud BEEPS, I finally got Dgen to work. Every Campaign that just beeped before seems to work just right now. Which to be honest was more down to persistence and a bit of luck than skill, but whatever, it works as it should now and I´m happy about that, to say the least.
...
I´m looking forward to try this Campaign of yours out as usual. I will try it as soon as possible. As of now I guess that I have to finished my running Dgen Campaigns first though. Anyways, if its anything like your other work we're in for another great experience.
..........
Cheers 
JC

[vonOben]

Hi JC

Are you using old DGen for your campaigns or are you using DGenMod?

If you are using old DGen then you need to activate and deactivate the Balkan campaign with JSGME every time you would like to switch between those campaigns, so that's not very convenient.

Either way I highly advice to follow this recommendation from the DGenMOD User manual, but I suggest to make a backup after every mission just in case.
 
IMPORTANT! For better use of the new generator (DGenMOD) it is highly recommended to make backup copies every 5-10 missions. Follow the steps below:
Step 1 – make a folder to store backup copies.
Step 2 – copy the Users folder, with all its content, from the main folder of the game (C:\IL-2 Sturmovik 1946\Users for example) to the new folder.
Step 3 – copy your current campaign’s folder, with all its content, from the Missions folder (C:\IL-2 Sturmovik 1946\Missions\Campaign\UN\dgen_1_coralsea16 for example) to the new folder.
In case of malfunction of the generator just copy the backup files back to the game’s folders.

[JCC]

Hiya vonOben and thanks for your comprehensive answer!

I´m currently running BAT 4.2.3 and the _Version.text in the Dgen directory is says "DGen for BAT-WAW v1.4", but there´s also a DGen.exe from 2008 (File version 4.0.8.6) outside the Dgen directory. As said previously, I got it running more by persistence and a bit of luck than skill. A lot of frustration made me test stuff without being as careful as I use to be. But it works now and that´s the main thing.

And as I want it to keep doing that, a Big Thank you mate for all the information that you have given me (and others) on how to keep it safe and in working condition in your post. I´m very grateful for that, and I will follow your directions to the letter to safeguard it!

Added Info: The Dgen directory that I use now is at 179 MB. The previous and renamed Dgen Directory was only at 41,0 MB, and I gather that the main problem was that I was missing a whole lot of stuff.
..
As said before, I really like your Campaigns and I´m looking forward to this one too! Is sure is great when one (almost) have to much fun stuff to do and look forward to.
--------
Cheers
JC

[arquillos]

Thank you vonOben!