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Galland and Mölder attending Theo Osterkamp's birthday. During the Battle of Britain, in a legendary front line General Officer briefing on Luftwaffe tactics, the Reichsmarshall asked what his pilots needed to win the battle. Werner Mölders replied that he would like the Bf 109 to be fitted with more powerful engines. Galland replied: "I should like an outfit of Spitfires for my squadron." Göring was speechless with rage. However it is important that this remark is not taken out of context, because Galland also stated (in his autobiography) that "of course fundamentally I preferred our Me 109 to the Spitfire". This apparent contradiction was due to his view that because the Spitfire was more manoeuvreable he considered it more suitable to the role of defensive fighter than the Bf 109, though he actually thought that fighters should not be used in a defensive role anyway. When Galland made the much quoted comment about the Spitfires to Göring he was "unbelievably vexed at the lack of understanding and stubborness with which the command gave us orders we could not execute" and so made the comment as a retort to Göring.