Official Historical Odessa Campaigns - Operation München & Under Siege

[Jaegermeister]

This release contains two separate 12 mission scripted campaigns, taking place on the Odessa map of the "Siege and Liberation" module. They represent both sides of the struggle for the port city of Odessa, and you will experience the events of this conflict from both sides of the front lines in three different aircraft. In some cases, you may even encounter your alter ego in your gunsight as you engage the enemy formations.

You will be flying a wide variety of missions, including bomber escort, ground attack, free hunt patrols and airfield attack and defense. These are historically based campaigns depicting real events according to research translated from original Romanian and Russian sources.   

"Operation München", an Axis Scripted Campaign for the Bf 109 E-4

 

On June 22, 1941, the Axis Armies launched 'Operation Barbarossa' with a massive attack on the western border of the Soviet Union. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Ion Antonescu, Romania joined the German assault in the hope of recapturing Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina which had previously been ceded to Russia. They code named the campaign 'Operation München', and Field Marshal Antonescu led the Romanian Third and Fourth Armies to their eastern border and prepared for war.

The Romanian Air Force joined the battle from the beginning, and the 7th Fighter Group (Grupul 7 Vânatoare) was equipped with Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-3/4 fighters which had been refurbished and purchased from Germany after the Battle of Britain. Grupul 7 was commanded by Lieutenant Commander Alexandru Popișteanu and was destined to play a major role in the support of the Axis advance into western Russia. As a pilot in “Operation München” you will be assigned to the 57th Fighter Squadron under the command of Captain Alexandru Manoliu, and fly your “Emil” against the best pilots the VVS and the Soviet Black Sea Fleet can put in the air over Odessa.

 

"Under Siege", a Soviet Scripted Campaign for the I-153 “Chaika” and Yak-1 series 23

 

When “Operation Barbarossa” engulfed the western border of Russia in 1941, the Soviet Air Force (VVS) lost many of its aircraft stationed at forward airfields near the Romanian border on the ground. After the initial attack, the front-line aircraft pulled back behind the Dniester River and regrouped in the Odessa area. The 69^th Fighter Aviation Regiment commanded by Major Lev Shestakov fought desperately in their I-16 “Ratas” against the German and Romanian Air Forces, until they were reinforced with a variety of aircraft from the Soviet Black Sea Fleet in the Crimea.

In the middle of August, 1941 Odessa was surrounded by the Romanian 4th Army and the small cadre of Soviet pilots waged their air battle against the Axis invaders from the airfields scattered around Odessa, with their backs against the sea. Some of the most famous Soviet aces of WWII began their careers in this area. As a participant in “Under Siege” you will fly the I-153 “Chaika” ground attack aircraft in the early stages of the battle and then move on to the Yak-1 series 23 fighter for most of your remaining missions.

 

 

This dual scripted campaign requires the Odessa and Leningrad - Siege and Liberation module to play 

Timeframe: July 3^rd, 1941 – October 1^st, 1941

Units: 57^th Fighter Squadron, 7^th Fighter Group, Royal Romanian Air Force, 94^th Airborne Squadron of the Russian Black Sea Fleet

Aircraft: Bf 109 E-4, I-153 “Chaika”, Yak-1 Series 23

Duration: 24 Missions

Average Playtime: 16 Hours

Languages: English, Russian

Author: James =Jaegermeister= Yarbrough

 

Available in the IL2 Store: HERE

Available on Steam: HERE

 

This thread is available to discuss the campaigns, or report any issues you might encounter.  

[Kubert]

Do Romanian pilots use romanian voice comms in Operation Munchen or are they speak German? I know mod for Romanian voices exist, just wondering if was implemented to this campaign or we need to mod the game by ourselves.

[Jaegermeister]

On 3/21/2026 at 4:29 AM, Kubert said:

Do Romanian pilots use romanian voice comms in Operation Munchen or are they speak German? I know mod for Romanian voices exist, just wondering if was implemented to this campaign or we need to mod the game by ourselves.

The Romanian voice replacement files are a separate download and not included with this campaign, but that modification would work great with this Romanian campaign and I highly recommend it. I installed and tested it with the help of the Generic Mod Enabler, and found it to be an improvement on the German voices.

There are no custom radio voice tracks in these campaigns and in the Soviet campaign, you will not even have a radio. Only some of the Soviet flight leaders at that time had 2 way radios, and the wingmen in interceptor flights only had radio receivers, if anything. That is not really possible to duplicate at this moment. The Romanians also did not have ground radios at their airfields (or maybe they did?), but we will overlook that for now. They only used telephones to communicate with other bases.

Edited March 24 by Jaegermeister
corrected reference to voice file "mod"

[AndreiTomescu]

From my knowledge, which is of course limited and prone to error, the airfields had ground radio for communicating with the close range aircrafts. The radios were mostly of german issue, close range field models, and lacked the ability to communicate with longer range assets, like other airfields (as Jaggermeister said, they used phone lines- hello! grandma calling! 🙂 -). But as far as i know they were fine in reaching closing/departing aircrafts.

There is also mention of using (occasionally) captured russian radios.

The problem was the lack of radios on the aircrafts!

The 109s had, and good ones.

The Heinkels, also did.

The PZLs, nope.

The workhorse IAR, also nope. None available. What??? yes..... What they did was that they took the radios from damaged/sent to repair, maintenance aircrafts and fitted them to combat worthy ones, as only the leading IAR from a squadron had one. And not always. But they (the IARs) were prequipped with antenna and wiring from factory. Like cars long ago.... 🙂  

The non-german made bombers also lacked radios.

The main issue was with the reccon planes ! It was like early WW1 planes ! they had to wait for them to come back.

I would like to say that later war situation changed, but....nope, not really. During '44, when trying to cope with the Allied bombing, the 109 G s had radio, but the IARs, only the leading one. (at least all leaders had).

So using radio is not unhistorical, imho.

The ro radio chatter "mod" - it's not a mod, actually, you just backup and replace the german lines with ro ones, you don't have to have "mods enabled", no- is nice , even if you don't understand what they're saying, because i've made it.....temperamental. a bit. unlike the disciplined german pilots, the romanians were just like the italians, and the poles, swearing and expressing their ....feelings even on radio. mild swearing included. 13+ label. 🙂  

 

[AndreiTomescu]

Early campaign report.

Location: Odessa. Secret airfield. 

Identity: Black Sea Fleet, pilot, transfered to city defense 

Machine: I-153

Status: first mission.

The strange seagull Chaika is a wonder to fly. And mostly to turn. 

Speed is quite good, especially against less fast IAR equipped enemy.

IAR AI is poor. Worst I've seen  so far, o guess, or at least that i remember.

Anti-air rockets ? Wow, that's new. Against fast moving fighter targets, well, hard to hit, I guess that's better against bombers, but, hey! I managed to pierce a IAR wing once! It's a new and very cool asset!

So, first mission, first time I-153, first impressions:

- the mission is well polished. 

- the map is populated enough, both air and ground. Not heavily, but enough

- fast jumping into action, with the front line so close.

- the comrade pilots are aggressive, desperate and eager for a kill. Very historical accurate, this. Twice happened as I was trying to close gap against a IAR by positioning/maneuver for a I-16 to fire against that same target from my 6 o'clock, with his tracers passing me by, and even through me (!!). Watch it, comrade Ivanov !!!

- despite many planes around, the fps stayed at my capped 83, so it's well optimised.

- immersion/scenery: there are ships on the sea, planes in the air, troops on the ground. maybe i've liked more, but it's good. As i've always said, a well done scripted beats an auto generated any time.

- just the first mission, and despite me having huge back-pain, i've enjoyed it a lot, as to "can't wait to go to the next one"

- the story/mission description is very, very dense, but as a history book. I know many like it this way. I do too, but still prefer a pilot/centered story, first person told. 

- the feeling of being a desperate pilot in desperate times, the siege feeling is there. Mixed squadrons, chaotic individual actions, all contributing to this. 

[AndreiTomescu]

The next 2 missions from the Soviet side really brought the hole immersion pack (ground assets, planes, targets, the hole confusion and madness of the front line) to a high level! Now we're talking! 

Really good this campaign. Especially for those enjoying short trips to targets, hell brought loose and the realism of NOT having mandatory objectives to complete for succes.

The Chaika is a great plane, and the plane-campaign style set i think is also very appropriate for beginners. 

For me, this campaign gave me so far that Malta-Gladiator feeling, that i love sooo much.

Edited March 23 by AndreiTomescu
bad english spelling, sorry

[Jaegermeister]

On 3/22/2026 at 5:56 PM, AndreiTomescu said:

The next 2 missions from the Soviet side really brought the hole immersion pack (ground assets, planes, targets, the hole confusion and madness of the front line) to a high level! Now we're talking! 

When you get placed into an active combat zone instead of moving gradually forward into contact, there is a very short learning curve. Fortunately in this case, the planes are simple to fly so it is easier to focus on the mission rather than flying a complex plane.

[Jaegermeister]

On 3/22/2026 at 4:45 AM, AndreiTomescu said:

 

IAR AI is poor. Worst I've seen  so far, o guess, or at least that i remember.

Anti-air rockets ? Wow, that's new. Against fast moving fighter targets, well, hard to hit, I guess that's better against bombers, but, hey! I managed to pierce a IAR wing once! It's a new and very cool asset!

 

The IAR-80s do not have a particularly low AI setting, but they are not all aces either. The AI has a hard time flying the IAR well and does not use it in a way that is very effective. They try to fly it as a turn fighter but it really needs altitude to keep the speed up. This makes it becomes an easy target, especially for a more maneuverable and faster climbing plane like the Chaika. There was some discussion about how poorly the AI flys the IAR 80 in the Little Brother Campaign before and most of them got killed off when they encountered enemy fighters. This is also probably why the Bf109s were historically used as interceptors and not so much for the IAR 80s.

When set up for ground attack, the Chaikas fire their rockets at enemy aircraft first thing whenever they get in contact, regardless of whether they are set to detonate on contact or at range. I am not sure if this will change in the future, but I have not reported it as a bug, because it doesn’t really cause a problem. They don’t do a lot of damage, but they are fun to play with. A direct hit will certainly have some results, but near misses don’t do much. There was a previous comment that they didn’t cause any damage at all, but I tested it and they do create damage to vehicles and objects

 

[AndreiTomescu]

38 minutes ago, Jaegermeister said:

The AI has a hard time flying the IAR well and does not use it in a way that is very effective. They try to fly it as a turn fighter but it really needs altitude to keep the speed up. This makes it becomes an easy target, especially for a more maneuverable and faster climbing plane like the Chaika.

exactly. when used by human player, the plane does perform well, anyhow much better than the AI IAR. But i guess that's somehow explainable for a demanding plane, known as a turner, but actually just as long as you have speed. So more of a fighter glider ! 🙂 

2 hours ago, Jaegermeister said:

They don’t do a lot of damage, but they are fun to play with.

it is VERY fun to play with !!! thanks to Wings over Caen campaign i have mini-learned this rocket business, just a bit. So using them against othet aircrafts, well, it was really iteresting. Just to brag a bit, i've managed (probablly accidentally) to pierce an IAR wing!! the rocket didn't explode, just went throught clean, but, but....well, it was cool. 

Really worth to try. 

Also in ground role, since i didn't know this

2 hours ago, Jaegermeister said:

the Chaikas fire their rockets at enemy aircraft first thing whenever they get in contact, regardless of whether they are set to detonate on contact or at range

i used the rockets, and if they hit near, they do damage. i yhink have 8 kg of TNT, or something. Alas, those 4 MG are weak, hard to damage a truck, even, so the rockets are a good add.

[AndreiTomescu]

my first E4 shot down, ever.

Still by the end of the clash, i could have been made Hero of the Soviet Union, with 2 Emils and 3 IAR-80 down in a single sortie. Despite my ego boosted like a blood filled tick, that's a bit too much.

It was a mighty battle, but, in a future update, i would increase the enemy AI higher. I'm not that good. 🙂 

[Jaegermeister]

3 hours ago, AndreiTomescu said:

It was a mighty battle, but, in a future update, i would increase the enemy AI higher. I'm not that good. 🙂 

Congratulations on your exemplary performance, haha. I’ll take a look at that and possible make some adjustments. Thanks for the observations!

[=BW=Uri]

Видимо, обнаружился баг в кампании "В осаде".

Миссия "Прятки".

Первый трек: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Xrq-BYvGx7e1pDYaU9XriQ0GC_jpPLR-?usp=sharing
1. Як-1 лейтенанта Скачкова при выруливании на полосу утыкается в проезжающий мимо грузовик - без последствий для самолёта и грузовика, далее занимает взлетную позицию. Кажется, что необходимо по времени развести выезд грузовика и рулежку самолета.
2. Ошибка локализации - у меня русская версия игры и кампании, соответственно, все сообщения в кампании на русском языке. Сообщение же о необходимости занять взлетную позицию позади лейтенанта Шевченко выводится на английском языке (смотрите скриншот).
3. Як-1 лейтенанта Шевченко после занятия взлетной позиции глохнет. Бот пытается перезапустить двигатель, но у него ничего не получается. Взлёт произвожу самостоятельно, оба самолёта под управлением ботов остаются на полосе до конца вылета.

Второй трек: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1I4jF8Xzvcwvfys1jFNdLQrKHEgwYCUOw?usp=sharing
4. В конце миссии на этапе посадки на импровизированный аэродром Як-1 лейтенанта Шевченко катается по полосе с включенным двигателем, а вот Як-1 лейтенанта Скачкова пропал. По окончании миссии в результатах вылета есть отметка о падении самолёта Як-1 на месте аэродрома. Полного трека вылета не сделал, к сожалению, посмотреть, что с ним случилось, не получится.

Миссию перезапускал раз 5 - Шевченко ни разу не смог запустить двигатель, один раз вообще не сработали скрипты после моего взлета и из миссии пропали и маршрутные точки и описание миссии и вообще все самолёты. Но это уже вряд ли баг миссии, скорее скриптовой части всей игры. 

[Metrolog]

56 минут назад, =BW=Uri сказал:

Видимо, обнаружился баг в кампании "В осаде".
Миссия "Прятки".

Два раза перезапускал миссию, проблемы были те же, что отметил =BW=Uri. В итоге пришлось лететь одному, боты так и остались чудить на аэродроме. 

[Jaegermeister]

I will take a look at it and see what I can figure out. I have not seen that behavior before, but I cerainly believe you. Thanks for the report, and I will let you both know what I find. 

Я изучу этот вопрос и посмотрю, что удастся выяснить. Раньше я с таким поведением не сталкивался, но, безусловно, верю вам. Спасибо за сообщение; я обязательно сообщу вам обоим, что мне удалось обнаружить. 

 

[Metrolog]

Кампания "В осаде". 

В последней миссии, как мне показалось, bf-109 бессмертные. Кто-нибудь смог сбить их?

[Jaegermeister]

Я только что проверил задание, и вы правы. Спасибо, что обратили на это мое внимание.

Я вышлю исправленные файлы как можно скорее.

[jokash]

Operation Munchen: Romanian missions 7 and 8.The waypoints when in enemy territory should be higher,there is alot of AA present and AI does nothing to evade it.In mission 08 The right to die first - my leader got hit and for that reason,maybe, continued flying through waypoints at even slower speed messing up the whole mission pacing.Before that i had to fly zig-zag behind him cause he doesn't do anything to evade AA.Mission 07 has the same problem.Dont know about future missions yet.

EDIT:The Romanian lead in mission 08 is flying at 250km/h not at 375km/h as waypoint paths says.

Edited Friday at 06:21 PM by jokash

[pepper9881]

02.04.2026 в 00:43, Metrolog сказал:

Кампания "В осаде". 

В последней миссии, как мне показалось, bf-109 бессмертные. Кто-нибудь смог сбить их?

И на 3-ем задании "В полымя" -  Bf.109E тоже бессмертные.

[Jaegermeister]

On 4/9/2026 at 3:54 PM, jokash said:

Operation Munchen: Romanian missions 7 and 8.The waypoints when in enemy territory should be higher,there is alot of AA present and AI does nothing to evade it.In mission 08 The right to die first - my leader got hit and for that reason,maybe, continued flying through waypoints at even slower speed messing up the whole mission pacing.Before that i had to fly zig-zag behind him cause he doesn't do anything to evade AA.Mission 07 has the same problem.Dont know about future missions yet.

EDIT:The Romanian lead in mission 08 is flying at 250km/h not at 375km/h as waypoint paths says.

In those 2 missions you must fly below the cloud cover to search for enemy aircraft. In Mission 08, you are specifically assigned to lower altitude for that reason while there is another flight flying high cover. These are historical mission assignments and not something that was randomly placed for convenience. I flew both of those missions yesterday, and did not have any trouble with AA. other than having to dodge some shots over an enemy airfield later in the mission.

The waypoint speed assignments are all set to 450 kph, so the leader will fly at his max continuous cruising speed most of the time. If and when the flight leader decides to fly slower it may be from damage, or waiting for a wingman to catch up or rejoin formation. Those are AI issues and not something I can control more than I have already done. 

 

On 3/28/2026 at 10:18 AM, Metrolog said:

Два раза перезапускал миссию, проблемы были те же, что отметил =BW=Uri. В итоге пришлось лететь одному, боты так и остались чудить на аэродроме. 

Исправления были отправлены.

 

Edited 6 hours ago by Jaegermeister

[jokash]

59 minutes ago, Jaegermeister said:

The waypoint speed assignments are all set to 450 kph, so the leader will fly at his max continuous cruising speed most of the time. If and when the flight leader decides to fly slower it may be from damage, or waiting for a wingman to catch up or rejoin formation. Those are AI issues and not something I can control more than I have already done. 

I restarted that mission to see what really happens,and leader will start flying at 250km/h before we enter enemy territory.I know the altitude is set below clouds,but at least we should move faster through enemy territory since couple of times we fly directly over enemy AA guns at low speed and naturally AI does nothing to evade it,so both times he ended up all shot up.

I'm pretty sure the same thing happens in mission 07 also.

Maybe adjust the waypoints so they aren't directly over the AA? They will still present a danger if you fly near them.