Myths and Legends of the Eastern Front: Reassessing the Great Patriotic War [off topic]

[Graham Boak]

Originally Posted by Jukka Juutinen

E.g. against Finns in the summer of 1944 Soviet air power employment was very backward. It concentrated on close support when the most effective use would have been interdiction.
).

A considerably controversial statement. Yes, it is taken as dogma by many air forces, but when applied in practice interdiction has rarely proven to be effective. The failures of successive campaigns in the Korean War illustrate this point well. The great value of interdiction (to air forces) is that at best it can cause some notable effect whilst significantly reducing the loss rate of the attacking aircraft. Otherwise the greatest effect of air power (after achieving air superiority) has been shown to be application at the point of contact to defeat the opposing forces in the field.

And there are immense numbers of books and theoretical studies arguing this very point, which likely can never be settled. However it is an alternative way of applying air power, not a backward one.