Hans-Joachim Marseille award received German Cross in Gold
Arrival in North Africa
Marseille's unit briefly saw action during the invasion of Yugoslavia, deployed to Zagreb on 10 April 1941, before transferring to Africa. On 20 April on his flight from Tripoli to his front airstrip, Marseille's Bf 109 E-7 (Werknummer 1259) developed engine trouble and he had to make a forced landing in the desert short of his destination. His squadron departed the scene after they had ensured that he had got down safely. Marseille continued his journey, first hitchhiking on an Italian truck, then, finding this too slow, he tried his luck at an airstrip, but in vain. Finally he made his way to the General in charge of a supply depot on the main route to the front and convinced him that he should be available for operations next day. Marseille's character appealed to the General and he put at his disposal his own Opel Admiral, complete with chauffeur. "You can pay me back by getting fifty victories, Marseille!" were his parting words. He caught up with his squadron on 21 April.Marseille scored two more victories on 23 and 28 April, his first in the North African Campaign. However, on 23 April, Marseille himself was shot down during his third sortie of that day by Sous-Lieutenant James Denis, a Free French pilot with No. 73 Squadron RAF (8.5 victories), flying a Hawker Hurricane. Marseille's Bf 109 E-7 (Werknummer 5160) received almost 30 hits in the cockpit area, and three or four shattered the canopy. Since Marseille was leaning forward, the rounds missed him by inches. Marseille managed to crash-land his fighter near Tobruk.Records show that James Denis shot down Marseille again just a month later, on 21 May 1941. Marseille engaged Denis, but overshot his target. A dogfight ensued, in which Denis once again bested Marseille. His Bf 109 E-7 (Werknummer 1567) came down in the vicinity of Tobruk behind German lines.In a postwar account, Denis wrote that he waited for Marseille to close on him while he feigned ignorance, then skidded [side slipped], forcing the faster German to overshoot. Marseille was lucky, as bullets passed both in front of his face and behind his head. 30 hits were counted after Marseille crash landed.In between the battles with Denis, Marseille downed a Bristol Blenheim on 28 April. Blenheim T2429, from No. 45 Squadron RAF, piloted by Pilot Officer B. C. de G. Allan, crashed killing all five men aboard. Jan Yindrich, a Polish Army soldier, witnessed the attack: "when a Blenheim came roaring down over our heads at about 50 feet, there was a terrific rattle of machine gun fire and at first I thought the Blenheim had made a mistake and was firing at us or choosing an awkward spot to clear his guns. Bullets whistled around, so we dived into the slit trench. A Messerschmitt, hot on the tail of the Blenheim, was responsible for the bullets. The Blenheim roared down the wadi, out to sea, trying to escape from the Messerschmitt, but the Messerschmitt was too close. The Blenheim fell out of the sky and crashed into the sea. The plane disappeared completely not leaving a trace. The Messerschmitt banked and flew inland again."Neumann (Geschwaderkommodore as of 10 June 1942) encouraged Marseille to self-train to improve his abilities. By this time, he had crashed or damaged another four Bf 109 E aircraft, including an aircraft he was ferrying on 23 April 1941. Marseille's kill rate was low, and he went from June to August without a victory. He was further frustrated after damage forced him to land on two occasions: once on 14 June 1941 and again after he was hit by ground fire over Tobruk and was forced to land blind.His tactic of diving into opposing formations often found him under fire from all directions, resulting in his aircraft frequently being damaged beyond repair; consequently, Neumann grew impatient with him. Marseille persisted, and created a unique self-training programme for himself, both physical and tactical, which resulted not only in outstanding situational awareness, marksmanship and confident control of the aircraft, but also in a unique attack tactic that preferred a high angle deflection shooting attack and shooting at the target's front from the side, instead of the common method of chasing an aircraft and shooting at it directly from behind. Marseille often practiced these tactics on the way back from missions with his comrades and became known as a master of deflection shooting.As Marseille began to claim Allied aircraft regularly, on occasion he personally looked after the welfare of the pilot and other Allied airmen he had downed, driving out to remote crash sites to rescue them. On 13 September 1941 Marseille shot down Pat Byers of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) No. 451 Squadron. Marseille flew to Byers' airfield and dropped a note informing the Australians of his condition and treatment. He returned several days later to second the first note with news of Byers' death. Marseille repeated these sorties after being warned by Neumann that Göring had forbidden any more flights of this kind.After the war, Marseille's JG 27 comrade Werner Schröer stated that Marseille attempted these gestures as "penance" for a group that "loved shooting down aircraft" but not killing a man; "we tried to separate the two. Marseille allowed us that escape, our penance I suppose."Finally on 24 September 1941, his self-training came to fruition, with his first multiple victory sortie, claiming four Hurricanes of No. 1 Squadron, South African Air Force (SAAF). By mid December, he had reached 25 victories and was awarded the German Cross in Gold. His Staffel was rotated to Germany in November/December 1941 to convert to the Bf 109 F-4/trop, the variant that was described as the Experten (experts) "mount." These victories represented his 19th through 23rd victory. Marseille became known amongst his peers for downing or damaging multiple enemy aircraft in a sortie.
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