I have theorized - no more than that, based on my reading of WW2 bomber ops - that somebody looked at combat and non-combat losses and divided them into three categories.
1. Catastrophic where nobody had any chance of escape, such as a major gun or missile hit or controlled flight into terrain.
2. Relatively benign (such as one gear stuck down, others stuck up) with timing, height and speed such that all on board could escape by parachute.
3. Aircraft damaged to the point where the pilot/s could hold it in an acceptable parachute-escape flightpath, but not themselves escape by parachute - at least anecdotally, a not uncommon WW2 scenario.
In that case, seats for the pilots and bale-out for the crew could emerge from OA as the way to go.
Slightly related: I was at the Smithsonian at Dulles a few weeks ago looking at the He219 and wondering whether the vital nature of its mission, and the value of skilled crews, was one reason it had ejection seats... However, the author of the site below says that the reason was that any attempt to leave the
Uhu in flight would result in a close encounter with the propellers.
Heinkel_He_219