[Juha]

John
“Would German troops on the ground prefer to face a force of IL2s going in at low level against them and taking out their positions, or a high level bombing force dropping bombs in such a pattern that there was a good chance they wouldn't get hit?”

I know that this is off the topic but I’d anyway comment that. I really don’t know. If we look Finnish experiences, Il-2s did their worst against horse-drawn supply and even that wasn’t very decisive. Finnish light infantry battalions seemed not to be much bothered by them, but in one conversation I heard that an Il-2 attack had dispersed a line infantry coy which was waiting orders in rather open and stony terrain. On the other hand the terrain was one of worst kind for infantry and I know that at the same area an infantry battalion was almost wiped out by heavy Russian artillery concentration. And Finnish AA gunners thought that Il-2s accuracy was poor and 20mm AA troop had good chance against Il-2s. What was feared most was the very powerful Soviet artillery not Il-2s. And I think that Germans who had experienced Allied carpet bombing didn’t like that experience at all.