his units that "ruthless" fuel economy measures be made and forbade the non-essential expenditure of fuel. Another decrypted message from Luftflotte 3 to OKL stated that air attacks had depleted fuel stocks to such an extent that June's allocation would have to last to the end of July. II. Jagdkorps was ordered by Sperrle to cease ground-attack and night operations in August owing to the fuel crisis. In August 1944, as the German army retreated from France, Sperrle's air fleet could fly only 250 missions to cover it. The performance of Sperrle's III Flak Corps was an exception. The Allied air forces lost 1,564 aircraft in June 1944, the majority to flak. The losses forced a reduction of activity in July and August 1944. The US Ninth Air Force command was critical of German fighter defences but noted that flak defences were effective and the source of constant attrition. The American air command suffered a 10–15 percent monthly attrition rate from April to July 1944. Sperrle was dismissed from his post on 23 August 1944, hours before American and French forces liberated Paris and overran his headquarters. As the German front collapsed in the aftermath of the Falaise pocket, the air fleet ground organisation fled east across the Seine. Hitler charged the personnel of Luftflotte 3 with desertion and held Sperrle responsible. On 22 September 1944 his former command was downgraded from air fleet to air command. By the time of his dismissal, Sperrle had purportedly long since lost faith in the German war effort and in Hitler and Göring's military leadership. He had become lazy and had a tendency to indulge in the trappings and luxury that occupied France offered. Sperrle became indebted but retained sufficient standing with Hitler for him to be loaned or given 50,000 Reichsmarks. In February 1945, Hitler gave him 100,000 Reichsmarks for his 60th birthday. During the war Hitler had occasionally given Sperrle artwork that may have been looted from occupied territories. Analysts of Sperrle's performance have been critical of his perceived inaction in Normandy and point to critical contemporary army reports on the failures of his command. Others have questioned Sperrle's influence on the conduct of operations and suggested he was a convenient scapegoat for Göring. Sperrle remained embittered after the defeat in France. He was deemed unfit for a senior command and spent the rest of the war in the Führerreserve, effective