This is a very complex topic. The Soviets showed great change/variation in 41-44. I don't know enough about the LW in 41' to comment, except for the Tank battle of Brody/Dubno featured high volume LW air attacks from the Soviet perspective, leading to widescale disorganization of their tank forces. (Book, the Bloody triangle) Certainly it was used in crossing of Sedan in 40'. (Book, Blitzkrieg Legend)TheMarcksPlan wrote: ↑30 Oct 2021 06:31This doesn't seem true of 1941, however, and probably not of 1940 either - LW basically didn't do tactical support unless there was a strong demarcation line like Meuse River. Only AGC had real tactical air support at the beginning of Barbarossa (all Stukas concentrated there), yet Ostheer made breakthroughs often. It remains possible that crushing air support was necessary in 1942 (and after) because force ratios were worse for Germany than in 1941 and earlier, but that had force ratios remained at 1941 levels it would not have been necessary.
However the method matured into the form seen in the spring of 1942, with the Luftwaffe air force liasion officer network and the movement of Fliegerkorps and Luftflotte staffs to the front lines to coordinate Dive Bomber and Medium bomber groups. Later on there were also aircraft that specialized in hunting tanks. Going into 1943, the Lawrence and Zetterling kursk books has figures of the amount of air support for the attacking corps, this was effectively the standard combat method for the rest of the war. Some 200 +/- sorties per day per division, a far cry from the extreme numbers in the Crimea and at Stalingrad but a routine figure, expected of important counterattacks in the Eastern Front.