took place in June 1944. According to a report made by Galland, in the previous four months 1,000 pilots had been killed. Galland reported that the enemy outnumbered his fighters between 6:1 and 8:1 and the standard of Allied fighter pilot training was "astonishingly high". To win back some breathing space for his force and German industrial targets, Galland formulated a plan which he called the "Big Blow" (). It called for the mass interception of USAAF bomber formations by approximately 2,000 German fighters. Galland hoped that the German fighters would shoot down some 400–500 bombers. Acceptable losses were to be around 400 fighters and 100–150 pilots. Galland's staff could muster 3,700 aircraft of all types by 12 November 1944, with 2,500 retained for this specific operation. The night fighter force was to assist by employing 100 aircraft in southern and northern Germany, to prevent any crippled bombers making it to Switzerland and Sweden. Over the autumn 1944 Galland carefully husbanded his resources and waited for unusually bad weather to improve. Hitler rejected Galland's plan. He hoped to improve Germany's position by winning a decisive victory on the Western Front. Hitler distrusted Galland's theory and believed him to be afraid and stalling for time. The Führer was also skeptical that the Luftwaffe could stop the American air offensive and was not willing to have German resources sit idle on airfields to wait for an improvement in flying conditions. Admittedly Galland's efforts had built up a useful reserve, but Hitler was now to use it in support of a land offensive. Göring and Hitler handed over the forces pooled by Galland to Peltz whom they had appointed commander of II. Jagdkorps—responsible for virtually all fighter forces in the west. Peltz appointed Gordon Gollob as Special Fighter Staff Officer for the offensive. Gollob ultimately was a vociferous opponent of Galland and eventually engineered his dismissal. Whether the "Big Blow" operation would have worked is a matter of academic debate. Historians remained divided, with some believing it was a lost opportunity while others think it would have had much less impact than Galland estimated. The operation never took place. Instead, the fighter force was committed to the disastrous Operation Bodenplatte, designed to support German forces during the Battle of the Bulge. Galland's influence on matters was now virtually nil. Appalled by the Ardennes losses, he personally confronted Gollob and criticised him severely. Gollob