Air interdiction!

[Turner]

Just a note on the subject. In Normandie, allied pilots of various strike/fighter attack a/c claimed a total of destroyed armored vehicles which was twice that of the number actually fielded by the germans.

In part this can be explained by the fact that vehicles claimed to have been destroyed were in fact only put out of action for a few hours up to a few days, to return to active status after repairs. In some cases the vehicles may not even have been seriously damaged at all.

Like in the case of the bombing of KG von Luck in Normandie where his 2. PzGr Bn was wiped out, all the Tigers (I forget which unit, someone might know but I don't have time right now to look it up) of his s. Pz were put out of action with one actually turned upside down! Still, the next morning 90% of the tanks were back in working order.

All in all the effects of airpower was widely exaggerated post-war. For a modern day example, look at the effects of NATO bombings of the Serbian Army in Kosovo (-94 was it?). NATO destroyed a lot of tanks, however the serbs learned to build a lot of decoys. Fake camouflaged targets emitting IR signals. Simple wooden frame decoys which NATO spent a lot of expensive ordnance to take out.

I don't have enough details about it to draw conclusions, other than air power must be used wisely to have maximum effect. It's easy to over estimate the effects of bombing. It would be interesting to see the USAF internal investigations on this matter. Somehow I think that's classified information. :)