 The chief of the general staff had paid minimal attention to the attrition that had taken place in the Battle of Britain and preceding Battle of France.The decision to attack the largest nation in the world with an air force that quantitatively was the same size as it had been the previous year and that was weaker in crew experience and training, was to prove a grave error.On 27 February 1941, Jeschonnek informed Franz Halder that the aircraft to airspace ratio was low and that only essential areas could be guaranteed air support.