If you're units had been spread out, you wouldn't have lost a single squad.
Ive had several times where a single valuable unit was caught in a choke point and I retreated but because it rakes in the retreat path it was cut down anyway.
As already noted it is not like OKW have anything else
The idea is to get the game as fun/polished/balanced as possible in the long run. That means if the game has big issues X Y and Z, you fix them. You don't neglect fixing a major problem just because it would make a faction temporarily weaker pending another balance patch.
its effective even without the creeping barrage style of barrage. remove that and its cool. the stuka just have to mirror the one in vcoh not land consecutively in the retreat path of everything.
This. The damage is fine, the problem is you get severely punished for retreating from it.