We've been playing that both players remove outstanding hits at the end of each players' turn, but noticed today that on p.18 under Sequence of Play it says only the Active player removes hits. Seems pretty clear and we've probably just been stupid until now, but just checking that this interpretation is correct as it's a pretty significant difference from what we've been doing. Only the Active player removes hits at the end of their turn?
Active player is correct.
But doing it your way probably isn't that signficant, as you don't take that many hits in your turn - opportunity fire being the main one
I made little red/yellow counters to show surppression, rather than red dice. I remove the hits at the end of a turn.
I haven't played enough to comment on how significant the difference is on average, but in the game we played on Sunday it was important. I managed to get a Panther outflanked by 3 T-34s and at the end of my opponent's turn had 3 hits. In my turn, I had the option to move and make a dash into cover, but of course would have received opportunity fire from 3 tanks which likely would have finished me off. I opted to stay put and take my chances next turn. If I'd been able to remove those hits, I would have made a run for it in my turn. Of course the opportunity fire could have suppressed me and left me stuck in the open anyway. :'(