How powerful was close air support in WW2?

>>2926020
You very rarely had tanks operating on their own. When they did, it was usually part of some sort of deep penetration where other, slower assets couldn't keep pace, and were against rear echelon stuff, not facing organized resistance. Even then, they ideally had air support, in fact, often close air support was necessary for such missions to compensate for lack of artillery.

I'm not even really sure how to integrate your two questions, they don't really cohere to each other. Tanks served a role on the WW2 battlefield, and were pretty indispensable for that role of the rapid breakthrough once penetration was achieved. They were not generally that great at penetration, although they could be used as such in a pinch.

>>2926020

Planes really were not good at hitting tanks. It is extremely difficult to hit a relatively small, moving target like a tank from an aircraft in the 1940's. Planes were much better at disrupting the support vehicles that tanks depend on.

>>2926020

Early on it was extremely effective, but as technology improved it became weaker and weaker and by the war's end it was essentially worthless.

>>2926068
Please, provide some source material for that sweeping statement you made there. It's totally not like the Soviets built tens of thousands of attack craft, nor did the Americans and British start using them in addition to their strategic bombing campaigns.

>>2926020

Wat?

Tanks are indefensible in both SD and HOI4. Hard divisions absolutely roll over soft divisions in HOI4, and the problem with tanks in SD is not tanks being bad but rather armored divisions having lolnoincome so they lose map control and lose even more income.

>>2926074

Stack enough CAS and have air superiority and even German 40 width armor divisions melt against shitty Soviet peasant infantry. It is one of the primary strategies a Soviet player uses to blunt Barbarossa with something like 60-70 percent of his production on CAS alone.

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>>2926055
You just need the right plane. A tactical bomber won't help, sure, but CAS was done by small, slow planes.

>>2926074
>>2926100
In my HOI3, CAS and bombers do so little damage I now ignore them and it change nothing. They get disorganized before taking one pixel on my infantry divisions.

I also made a world conquest with nothing but the Soviet people's militia. If you stack enough of them they are an unstoppable force.

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On the Western front, from the start of the invasion of Normandy, Allied air support was so prevalent and effective it prevented the movement of German Panzer units. German tanks were forced to avoid roads, move in nighttime, and to use cover. It reduced their offensive capabilities significantly and even cut their retreat some times.

For some reason I don't see close air support being as important in the early years of the war. The technology was there, but the air superiority wasn't as lopsided as it was after 1943 with the coming of the U.S Air Force.

>>2926259
Not OP,but that kind of interdiction bombing isn't CAS. CAS is tactical bombing in aid of your troops when they're engaged.

And if you want a use of early war importance, check out the breakthrough after Sedan by the Germans, Luftwaffe CAS allowed those panzers to advance when they had no artillery with them, and couldn't take it because that shit was way too slow.