Air Shock - Barbarossa?

[Chuck?]

Is the 4 turn Allied air shock penalty contingent on Barbarossa being selected or does it occur with the Axis DOW on the USSR?

The reason I ask is in the first two turns after DOW on the USSR in my match against Raver the allied air losses were catastrophic. On turn 1 1600 Allied aircraft were lost to only 60 for the Axis. Turn 2 saw 1200 Allied aircraft go down vs 125 for the Axis.

[Raver]

Yes... perhaps I should have re-read the briefing before embarking on Barbarossa - those losses are crippling!

[Mark Stevens]

I'm afraid that the air shock only comes in with the actual declaration of 'Barbarossa', not just the invasion.

If it's any consolation (i) the Air Briefing habitually overstates losses and (ii) historically, the Red Air Force was effectively destroyed as a fighting force in the first few days.

The thing to do is either keep it out of the way altogether by sticking it as far east as possible on Rest, or position the units at the very limit of their range to support the front line of the Red Army, and adjust them (eastwards!) as the Axis advance and bring their planes forward.

[Chuck?]

So it's only going to get worse for Raver because I haven't even selected the Barbarossa TO yet, only the DOW.