Hans - Joachim Marseille Hans - Joachim Marseille ( 13 December 1919 – 30 September 1942 ; ) was a " Luftwaffe " fighter pilot and flying ace during World War II . He is noted for his aerial battles during the North African Campaign and his Bohemian lifestyle . One of the most successful fighter pilots , he was nicknamed the " Star of Africa " . Marseille claimed all but seven of his " official " 158 victories against the British Commonwealth ' s Desert Air Force over North Africa , flying the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter for his entire combat career . No other pilot claimed as many Western Allied aircraft as Marseille . Marseille , of French Huguenot ancestry , joined the Luftwaffe in 1938 . At the age of 20 he graduated from one of the " Luftwaffe ' s " fighter pilot schools just in time to participate in the Battle of Britain , without notable success . A charming person , he had such a busy night life that sometimes he was too tired to be allowed to fly the next morning . As a result , he was transferred to another unit , which relocated to North Africa in April 1941 . Under the guidance of his new commander , who recognised the latent potential in the young officer , Marseille quickly developed his abilities as a fighter pilot . He reached the zenith of his fighter pilot career on 1 September 1942 , when during the course of three combat sortie s he claimed 17 enemy fighters shot down , earning him the " Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub , Schwertern und Brillanten " ( Knight ' s Cross with Oak Leaves , Swords , and Diamonds ) . Only 29 days later , Marseille was killed in a flying accident , when he was forced to abandon his fighter due to engine failure . After exiting the smoke - filled cockpit , Marseille ' s chest struck the vertical stabiliser of his aircraft , either killing him instantly , or incapacitating him so that he was unable to open his parachute . Early life . Hans - Joachim " Jochen " Walter Rudolf Siegfried Marseille was born to Charlotte ( maiden name : Charlotte Marie Johanna Pauline Gertrud Riemer ) and " Hauptmann " Siegfried Georg Martin Marseille , a family with paternal Huguenot ancestry , in Berlin - Charlottenburg Berliner Strasse 164 on 13 December 1919 at 11 : 45 pm . As a child , he was physically weak , and he nearly died from a serious case of Influenza . His father Siegfried was an Army officer during World War I , and later left the armed forces to join the Berlin Police force . Siegfried later rejoined the Army in 1933 , and was promoted to General in 1935 . Promoted again he attained the rank of " Generalmajor " on 1 July 1941 . He served on the Eastern Front from the beginning of Operation Barbarossa . Siegfried Marseille was killed by partisans near Pyetrykaw on 29 January 1944 . He was buried in the cemetery of Selasje . Hans - Joachim also had a younger sister , Ingeborg " Inge " . While on sick leave in Athens at the end of December 1941 , he was summoned to Berlin by a telegram from his mother . Upon arriving home , he learned his sister had been " slain by a jealous lover " ; Hans - Joachim never recovered emotionally from this blow . While Marseille was still a young child his parents divorced and his mother subsequently married a police official named Reuter . Marseille initially assumed the name of his stepfather at school ( a matter he had a difficult time accepting ) but he reverted to his patronymic name of Marseille in adulthood . He acquired the reputation of being a rebel from a lack of discipline , a characteristic that would plague him early on in his Luftwaffe career . Marseille also had a difficult relationship with his natural father who he refused to visit in Hamburg for some time after the divorce . Eventually he attempted a reconciliation with his father , who subsequently introduced him to the nightlife that was to initially hamper his military career during his early years in the " Luftwaffe " . However , the rapproachment with his father did not last and he did not see him again thereafter . Marseille attended the 12th " Volksschule " Berlin ( 1926 – 1930 ) , and from the age of 10 , the Prinz Heinrich Gymnasium in Berlin - Schöneberg ( 1930 – 1938 ) . He was considered to be a lazy student at first , and was constantly playing pranks and getting into trouble . Toward the end of his school years he started to take his education more seriously and qualified as one of the youngest ( at 17 years , six months ) to achieve his Abitur , graduating in early 1938 . Marseille then expressed his desire to become a " flying officer . " Entry into the Luftwaffe . Although not athletic in physique , Marseille received a good report for a term with the " Reichsarbeitsdienst " ( " State Labour Service " ) " Abtlg . 1 / 177 " in Osterholz - Scharmbeck near Bremen , between 4 April and 24 September 1938 . He joined " Luftwaffe " on 7 November 1938 , as a " Fahnenjunker " ( officer candidate ) and received his military basic training in Quedlinburg in the Harz region . On 1 March 1939 Marseille was transferred to the " Luftkriegsschule " ( LKS 4 — air war school ) near Fürstenfeldbruck . Among his classmates was Werner Schröer . Schröer reports that Marseille was often in breach of military discipline . Consequently Marseille was ordered to stay on base while his class mates were on weekend leave . Quite frequently Marseille ignored this and left Schröer a note : " Went out ! Please take my chores . " On one occasion , while performing a slow circuit , Marseille broke away and performed an imaginary weaving dogfight . He was reprimanded by his commanding officer , " Hauptmann " Mueller - Rohrmoser , and taken off flying duties and his promotion to " Gefreiter " postponed . Soon after , during a cross - country flight , he landed on a quiet stretch of " Autobahn " ( between Magdeburg and Braunschweig ) and ran behind a tree to relieve himself . Some farmers came to enquire if he needed assistance , but by the time they arrived Marseille was on his way , and they were blown back by his slipstream . Infuriated , the farmers reported the matter and Marseille was again suspended from flying . Those he graduated with had been made full officers by early 1940 , while Marseille ' s indiscipline left him with the rank of " Oberfähnrich " at the end of 1941 . Marseille completed his training at " Jagdfliegerschule 5 " ( 5th fighter pilot school ) in Wien - Schwechat to which he was posted on 1 November 1939 . " Jagdfliegerschule 5 " at the time was under the command of the World War I flying ace and recipient of the Pour le Mérite Eduard Ritter von Schleich . One of his teachers at the " Jagdfliegerschule 5 " was the Austro - Hungarian World War I ace Julius Arigi . Marseille graduated from " Jagdfliegerschule 5 " with an outstanding evaluation on 18 July 1940 and was assigned to " Ergänzungsjagdgruppe " Merseburg . Marseille ' s unit was assigned to air defence duty over the Leuna plant from the outbreak of war until the fall of France . On 10 August 1940 he was assigned to " I . Jagd / Lehrgeschwader 2 " , based in Calais - Marck , to begin operations over Britain and again received an outstanding evaluation this time by his " Hauptmann " and " Gruppenkommandeur " , Herbert Ihlefeld . World War II . Battle of Britain . In his first dogfight over England on 24 August 1940 , Marseille was involved in a four - minute battle with a skilled opponent . He defeated his opponent by pulling up into a tight chandelle , to gain an altitude advantage before diving and firing . The British fighter was struck in the engine , pitching over and diving into the English Channel ; this was Marseille ' s first victory . Marseille was then engaged from above by more enemy fighters . By pushing his aircraft into a steep dive then pulling up metres above the water , Marseille escaped from the machine gun fire of his opponents : " skipping away over the waves , I made a clean break . No one followed me and I returned to Leeuwarden . " Marseille did not take any pleasure in this victory and found it difficult to accept the realities of aerial combat . In a letter to his mother , dated 24 August , he said : " Today I shot down my first opponent . It does not sit well with me . I keep thinking how the mother of this young man must feel when she gets the news of her son ' s death . And I am to blame for this death . I am sad , instead of being happy about the first victory . " On his second sortie , he scored another victory , and by the fifth day had claimed his fourth victory . While returning from a bomber - escort mission on 23 September 1940 , his engine failed after combat damage sustained over Dover ; he tried to radio his position but was forced to bail out over the sea . He paddled around in the water for three hours before being rescued by a Heinkel He 59 float plane based at Schellingwoude . Severely worn out and suffering from exposure , he was sent to a field hospital . " I . ( Jagd ) / LG 2 " claimed three aerial victories for the loss of four Bf 109 . Days later , Marseille was passed over for promotion and was now the sole " Fähnrich " in the " Geschwader " . This was a humiliation for him , suspecting that his abilities were being suppressed so the squadron leaders could take all the glory in the air . Another account recalled how Marseille once ignored an order to turn back from a fight when outnumbered by two to one , but seeing an enemy aircraft closing on his wing leader , Marseille broke formation and shot the attacking aircraft down . Expecting nothing but " a well done Jochen " when he landed , he was thoroughly criticised for his actions , receiving three days of confinement for failing to carry out an order . Shortly afterwards , in early October 1940 , after having claimed seven aerial victories all them flying with " I . ( Jagd ) / LG 2 " Marseille was transferred to " 4 . / Jagdgeschwader 52 " , flying alongside the likes of Johannes Steinhoff and Gerhard Barkhorn . He wrote off four aircraft as a result of operations during this period . Steinhoff , later recalled : As punishment for " insubordination " — rumoured to be his penchant for American jazz music , womanising and an overt " playboy " lifestyle — and inability to fly as a wingman , Steinhoff transferred Marseille to " Jagdgeschwader 27 " on 24 December 1940 . When he joined his new unit , it was difficult to foresee his outstanding career . His new " Gruppenkommandeur " , Eduard Neumann , later recalled : Nevertheless , Neumann quickly recognised Marseille ' s potential as a pilot . He stated in an interview : " Marseille could only be one of two , either a disciplinary problem or a great fighter pilot . " " Jagdgeschwader 27 " was soon relocated to North Africa . 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 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 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 . Nevertheless he caught up with his squadron and arrived on 21 April . He 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 received almost 30 hits in the cockpit area , and three or four shattered the canopy . As Marseille was leaning forward the rounds missed him by inches . Marseille managed to crash - land his fighter . Just a month later , records show that James Denis shot down Marseille again on 21 May 1941 . Marseille engaged Denis , but overshot his target . A turning dogfight ensued , in which Denis once again bested Marseille . After the war Denis described his second encounter with Marseille : When we arrived near the target , I dived quite steeply and realised my wingman was following shyly . Pompei was a very good pilot but had never trained as a fighter pilot . Worried to see how he was following so far behind , I kept looking back and noticed a ME109 [ Messerschmitt Bf 109 ] attacking him . Having no radio I could not warn him . He was hit and then the ME109 flew in my direction . I acted as if I hadn ' t seen him , but never stopped watching , and when he was in range I throttled back violently and skidded to the left . Since I was going very fast , my Hurricane [ V7859 ] reacted violently . I saw the hail of bullets pass on my right , and the ME109 could not slow down and flew in front of me . We then started a dogfight , for which the Hurricane was quite good due to its maneuverability . At that moment my plane was flying nose up , hooked to its propeller , when I saw the ME 109 in the sun . I fired a burst so close that we almost collided . I noticed my bullets enter its fuselage Neumann ( a " 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 aircraft , including a tropicalised 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 enemy formations often found him under fire from all directions , resulting in his aircraft being damaged beyond repair , consequently , Eduard Neumann was losing his patience . Marseille persisted , and created a unique self - training programme for himself , both physical and tactical , which resulted not just 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 . Marseille became known as a master at deflection shooting . As Marseille began to claim enemy aircraft regularly , on occasion he would organise the welfare of the downed pilot personally , driving out to remote crash sites to rescue downed Allied airmen . 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 forbade 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 practice 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 duly awarded the German Cross in Gold . His " Staffel " was rotated to Germany in November / December 1941 to convert to the Bf 109F - 4 / trop , the variant that was described as the " Experten " ( experts ) " mount . " The " Star of Africa " . Marseille always strove to improve his abilities . He worked to strengthen his legs and abdominal muscles , to help him tolerate the extreme g force s of air combat . Marseille also drank an abnormal amount of milk and shunned sunglasses , to improve his eyesight . To counter German fighter attacks , the Allied pilots flew " Lufbery circle s " ( in which each aircraft ' s tail was covered by the friendly aircraft behind ) . The tactic was effective and dangerous as a pilot attacking this formation could find himself constantly in the sights of enemy pilots . Marseille often dived at high speed into the middle of these enemy defensive formations from either above or below , executing a tight turn and firing a two - second deflection shot to destroy an enemy aircraft . Marseille attacked under conditions many considered unfavourable , but his marksmanship allowed him to make an approach fast enough to escape the return fire of the two aircraft flying on either flank of the target . Marseille ' s excellent eyesight made it possible for him to spot the enemy before he was spotted , allowing him to take the appropriate action and manoeuvre into position for an attack . In combat , Marseille ' s unorthodox methods led him to operate in a small leader / wingman unit , which he believed to be the safest and most effective way of fighting in the high - visibility conditions of the North African skies . Marseille " worked " alone in combat keeping his wingman at a safe distance so he would not collide or fire on him in error . In a dogfight , particularly when attacking Allied aircraft in a Lufbery circle , Marseille would often favour dramatically reducing the throttle and even lowering the flaps to reduce speed and shorten his turn radius , rather than the standard procedure of using full throttle throughout . Emil Clade said that none of the other pilots could do this effectively , preferring instead to dive on single opponents at speed so as to escape if anything went wrong . Clade said of Marseille ' s tactics : Marseille developed his own special tactics , which differed significantly from the methods of most other pilots . ( When attacking a Lufbery circle ) he had to fly very slowly . He even took it to the point where he had to operate his landing flaps as not to fall down , because , of course he had to fly his curve ( turns ) more tightly than the upper defensive circle . He and his fighter were one unit , and he was in command of that aircraft like no - one else . Friedrich Körner ( 36 victories ) also recognised this as unique : Shooting in a curve ( deflection shooting ) is the most difficult thing a pilot can do . The enemy flies in a defensive circle , that means they are already lying in a curve and the attacking fighter has to fly into this defensive circle . By pulling his aircraft right around , his curve radius must be smaller , but if he does that , his target disappears in most cases below his wings . So he cannot see it anymore and has to proceed simply by instinct . His success as a fighter pilot also led to promotions and more responsibility as an officer . 1 May 1942 saw him prematurely promoted to " Oberleutnant " followed by his appointment to " Staffelkapitän " of " 3 . / JG 27 " on 8 June 1942 , thus succeeding Oberleutnant Gerhard Homuth who took command of " I . / JG 27 " . In a conversation with his friend Hans - Arnold Stahlschmidt , Marseille commented on his style , and his idea of air - to - air combat : I often experience combat as it should be . I see myself in the middle of a British [ sic ] swarm , firing from every position and never getting caught . Our aircraft are basic elements , Stahlschmidt , which have got to be mastered . You ' ve got to be able to shoot from any position . From left or right turns , out of a roll , on your back , whenever . Only this way can you develop your own particular tactics . Attack tactics , that the enemy simply cannot anticipate during the course of the battle – a series of unpredictable movements and actions , never the same , always stemming from the situation at hand . Only then can you plunge into the middle of an enemy swarm and blow it up from the inside . His attack method to break up formations , which he perfected , resulted in a high lethality ratio , and in rapid , multiple victories per attack . On 3 June 1942 , Marseille attacked alone a formation of 16 Curtiss P - 40 fighters and shot down six aircraft of No . 5 Squadron SAAF , five of them in six minutes , including three aces : Robin Pare ( six victories ) , Douglas Golding ( 6 . 5 victories ) and Andre Botha ( five victories ) . His wingman Rainer Pöttgen , nicknamed " Fliegendes Zählwerk " the ( " Flying Counting Machine " ) , said of this fight : After claiming his 100th victory on 17 June 1942 , Marseille returned to Germany for two months leave . On 6 August , he began his journey back to North Africa accompanied by his fiancée Hanne - Lies Küpper . On 13 August , he met Benito Mussolini in Rome and was presented with the highest Italian military award for bravery , the " Medaglia d ' Oro al Valor Militare " . Leaving his fiancée in Rome , Marseille returned to combat duties on 23 August . 1 September 1942 was Marseille ' s most successful day , destroying 17 enemy aircraft , and September would see him claim 54 victories , his most productive month . The 17 enemy aircraft shot down included eight in 10 minutes , as a result of this feat he was presented with a type 82 Volkswagen Kübelwagen by an Italian Regia Aeronautica squadron , on which his Italian comrades had painted " Otto " ( Italian language : " Otto " = eight ) . This was the most aircraft from Western Allied air forces shot down by a single pilot in one day . Only one pilot , Emil " Bully " Lang on 4 November 1943 , would better this score , against the Soviet Air Force on the Eastern Front . Marseille continued scoring multiple victories throughout September , including seven on 15 September . Between 16 – 25 September , Marseille failed to increase his score due to a fractured arm , sustained in a force landing soon after the 15 September mission . As a result , he had been forbidden to fly by Eduard Neumann . But the same day , Marseille borrowed the Macchi C . 202 ' 96 – 10 ' of the Italian ace " Tenente " Emanuele Annoni , from 96a " Squadriglia " , 9° " Gruppo " , 4° " Stormo " , based at Fuka , for a test flight . But the one - off flight ended in a wheels - up landing , when the German ace accidentally switched the engine off , as the throttle control in Italian aircraft was opposite to that of the German aircraft . The incident highlighted some deficiencies in Marseille ' s flying . Werner Schröer said : Landings and take - offs , however , fell well below the usual Squadron standards . Once he borrowed a new Macchi 202 from a neighbouring Italian squadron and crashed it on landing . It left a poor impression of his general ability as a pilot . Marseille had nearly surpassed his friend Hans - Arnold Stahlschmidt ' s score of 59 victories in just five weeks . However , the massive material superiority of the Allies meant the strain placed on the outnumbered German pilots was now severe . At this time , the strength of German fighter units was 112 ( 65 serviceable ) aircraft against the British muster of some 800 machines . Marseille was becoming physically exhausted by the frenetic pace of combat . After his last combat on 26 September , Marseille was reportedly on the verge of collapse after a 15 - minute battle with a formation of Spitfires , during which he scored his seventh victory of that day . Aircraft . Marseille at least flew the following Bf 109 E - 7 aircraft : Marseille flew four different Bf 109F - 4 / Z aircraft : Death . The two missions of 26 September 1942 had been flown in Bf 109G - 2 / trop , in one of which Marseille had shot down seven enemy aircraft . The first six of these machines were to replace the " Gruppe " ' s Bf 109Fs . All had been allocated to Marseille ' s 3 " Staffel " . Marseille had previously ignored orders to use these new aircraft because of its high engine failure rate , but on the orders of Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring , Marseille reluctantly obeyed . One of these machines , WK - Nr . 14256 ( Engine : Daimler - Benz DB 605 A - 1 , W . Nr . 77 411 ) , was to be the final aircraft Marseille flew . Over the next three days Marseille ' s " Staffel " was rested and taken off flying duties . On 28 September Marseille received a telephone call from " Generalfeldmarschall " Erwin Rommel asking to return with him to Berlin . Hitler was to make a speech at the Berlin Sportpalast on 30 September and Rommel and Marseille were to attend . Marseille rejected this offer , citing that he was needed at the front and had already taken three months vacation that year . Marseille also revealed he wanted to take leave at Christmas , to marry his fiancée Hanne - Lies Küpper . On 30 September 1942 , " Hauptmann " Marseille was leading his " Staffel " on a Stuka escort mission , during which no contact with enemy fighters was made . While returning to base , his new Bf 109G - 2 / trop ' s cockpit began to fill with smoke ; blinded and half asphyxiated , he was guided back to German lines by his wingmen , Jost Schlang and Lt Rainer Pöttgen . Upon reaching friendly lines , " Yellow 14 " had lost power and was drifting lower and lower . Pöttgen called out after about 10 minutes that they had reached the White Mosque of Sidi Abdel Rahman , and were thus within friendly lines . At this point , Marseille deemed his aircraft no longer flyable and decided to bail out , his last words to his comrades being " I ' ve got to get out now , I can ' t stand it any longer " . Eduard Neumann was personally directing the mission from the command post : I was at the command post and listening to the radio communication between the pilots . I realised immediately something serious had happened ; I knew they were still in flight and that they were trying to bring Marseille over the lines into our territory and that his aircraft was emitting a lot of smoke . His " Staffel " , which had been flying a tight formation around him , peeled away to give him the necessary room to manoeuvre . Marseille rolled his aircraft onto its back , the standard procedure for bail out , but due to the smoke and slight disorientation , he failed to notice that the aircraft had entered a steep dive ( at an angle of 70 – 80 degrees ) and was now travelling at a considerably faster speed ( about 400 mph ) . He worked his way out of the cockpit and into the rushing air only to be carried backwards by the slipstream , the left side of his chest striking the vertical stabiliser of his fighter , either killing him instantly or rendering him unconscious to the point that he could not deploy his parachute . He fell almost vertically , hitting the desert floor south of Sidi Abdel Rahman . As it transpired , a gaping 40 cm ( 16 in ) hole had been made in his parachute and the canopy had spilled out , but after recovering the body , the parachute release handle was still on " safe , " revealing Marseille had not even attempted to open it . Whilst checking the body , " Oberarzt " Dr Bick , the regimental doctor for the 115th " Panzergrenadier - Regiment " , noted Marseille ' s wristwatch had stopped at exactly 11 : 42 am . Dr . Bick had been the first to reach the crash site , having been stationed just to the rear of the forward mine defences , he had also witnessed Marseille ' s fatal fall . In his autopsy report , Dr . Bick stated : " The pilot lay on his stomach as if asleep . His arms were hidden beneath his body . As I came closer , I saw a pool of blood that had issued from the side of his crushed skull ; brain matter was exposed . I turned the dead pilot over onto his back and opened the zipper of his flight jacket , saw the Knight ' s Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords ( Marseille never actually received the Diamonds personally ) and I knew immediately who this was . The paybook also told me . " " Oberleutnant " Ludwig Franzisket collected the body from the desert . Hans - Joachim Marseille lay in state in the " Staffel " sick bay , his comrades coming to pay their respects throughout the day . As a tribute they put on the record " Rhumba Azul " that he had enjoyed listening to ; it played over and over until the close of day . Marseille ' s funeral took place on 1 October 1942 at the Heroes Cemetery in Derna with " Generalfeldmarschall " Albert Kesselring and Eduard Neumann delivering a eulogy . The last entry in his flight book by Eduard Neumann read : " Flight duration 54 minutes , time of landing " black cross " . Took to parachute south of Sidi Abdel Rahman . Remarks : Engine damage . Flights 1 – 482 , 388 combat flights and a total of 158 kills : Certified in the field 30 September 1942 " . An enquiry into the crash was hastily set up . The commission ’ s report ( " Aktenzeichen 52 , Br . B . Nr . 270 / 42 " ) concluded that the crash was caused by damage to the differential gear , which caused an oil leak . Then a number of teeth broke off the spur wheel and ignited the oil . Sabotage or human error was ruled out . The aircraft , W . Nr . 14256 , was ferried to the unit via Bari , Italy . The mission that ended in its destruction was its first mission . Many of the other top Luftwaffe fighter aces like Adolf Galland and Erich Hartmann regarded him as " the best " . Günther Rall said of Marseille , " an excellent pilot and brilliant marksman . I think he was the best shot in the " Luftwaffe " " . Aftermath . Marseille ' s death caused the morale of the entire " Geschwader " to drop . JG 27 was moved out of Africa for about a month because of this , and the deaths of two other German aces , Günter Steinhausen and Marseille ' s friend Hans - Arnold Stahlschmidt , just three weeks earlier . This represented a failure in the command style of Marseille , although it was not entirely within his control . The more success he had the more his squadron relied on him to carry the lion ' s share of the success . So his death , when it came , was something which JG 27 had seemingly not prepared for and the consequences were predictable and devastating . Historians Hans Ring and Christopher Shores also point to the fact that Marseille ' s promotions were based on personal success rates more than any other reason , and other pilots did not get to score victories , let alone become " Experten " themselves . They flew support as the " maestro showed them how it was done " , and often " held back from attacking enemy aircraft to build his score still higher " . As a result there was no other " Great " to step into Marseille ' s shoes if he was killed . Eduard Neumann explained : " This handicap [ that very few pilots scored ] was partially overcome by the morale effect on the whole Geschwader of the success of pilots like Marseille . In fact most of the pilots in Marseille ' s " staffel " acted in secondary role as escort to the " master " . " Still Neumann , who was himself one of the Luftwaffe ’ s most able operational leaders , in the assessment of his subordinate commander ’ s quality was forthright : " As a fighter pilot Marseille was absolutely supreme … Above all , he possessed lightning reflexes and could make a quicker judgment in a bigger orbit than anyone else . . . Marseille was unique … " Marseille ' s impact on enemy fighter pilots and their morale is unclear . Andrew Thomas quoted Pilot Officer Bert Houle of No . 213 Squadron RAF ; " He was an extremely skilled pilot and a deadly shot . It was a helpless feeling to be continually bounced , and to do so little about it . " Robert Tate on the other hand is sceptical that enemy pilots would have been familiar with each other , " How well was Marseille known to DAF personnel in the Desert ? Apparently not so well . Although there is little indication that some Allied pilots may have heard of Marseille , this information did not readily make its way down to Allied Squadrons . Fanciful stories abound of how pilots knew of one another and hoped to duel with each other in the skies . This was more than likely not the case . " Victory claims and notable actions . " Fähnrich " Hans - Joachim Marseille was transferred to his first combat assignment with the " I . ( Jagd ) / Lehrgeschwader 2 " at the time stationed at Calais - Marck on Sunday 10 August 1940 . Two days later he arrived at this unit on 12 August 1940 . He was assigned to the " 1 . Staffel " of this " Gruppe " . " Staffelkapitän " was " Oberleutnant " Adolf Buhl . One of the " Schwarmführer " was " Oberfeldwebel " Helmut Goedert , to whom Marseille was assigned as wingman . Marseille already flew his very first combat mission on the next day , Wednesday 13 August 1940 and claimed his first aerial victory on 24 August 1940 . In over little more than two years he would account for another 157 aerial victories . His 158 aerial victories were claimed in 382 combat missions . Marseille ' s 151 claims in North Africa included : The German National Archives still hold records for 109 of Marseille aerial victories . A further biographer of Marseille , Walter Wübbe , has made an attempt to link these records to Allied units , squadrons and when possible even to individual pilots , in order to verify the claims as much as possible . Dispute over claims . Some serious discrepancies between Allied squadron records and German claims have caused some historians and Allied veterans to question the accuracy of Marseille ' s official victories , in addition to those of " JG 27 " as a whole . Attention is often focused on the 26 claims made by " JG 27 " on 1 September 1942 , of which 17 were claimed by Marseille alone . Another biographer , Franz Kurowski , claims that 24 of the 26 victories were verified through Allied records after the war . A USAF historian , Major Robert Tate states : " [ f ] or years , many British historians and militarists refused to admit that they had lost any aircraft that day in North Africa . Careful review of records however do show that the British [ and South Africans ] did lose more than 17 aircraft that day , and in the area that Marseille operated . " Tate also reveals 20 RAF single - engined fighters and one twin engined fighter were destroyed and several others severely damaged , as well as a further USAAF P - 40 shot down . However , overall Tate reveals that Marseille ' s kill total comes close to 65 – 70 percent corroboration , indicating as many as 50 of his claims may not have been actually kills . Tate also compares Marseilles rate of corroboration with the top six P - 40 pilots . While only the Canadian James Francis Edwards ' records shows a verification of 100 percent other aces like Clive Caldwell ( 50 % to 60 % corroboration ) , Billy Drake ( 70 % to 80 % corroboration ) , John Lloyd Waddy ( 70 % to 80 % corroboration ) and Andrew Barr ( 60 % to 70 % corroboration ) are at the same order of magnitude as Marseille ' s claims . Christopher Shores and Hans Ring also support Tate ' s conclusions . British historian Stephen Bungay gives a figure of 20 Allied losses that day . However , the claims for 15 September 1942 are in serious doubt , following the first detailed scrutiny of the records of individual Allied squadrons by Australian historian Russell Brown . Moreover , Brown lists three occasions on which Marseille could not have downed as many aircraft as claimed . Stephan Bungay has pointed out the low military value of shooting down DAF fighters , rather than the bombers that , by mid - 1942 , were having a highly damaging effect on Axis ground units and convoy routes . Referring to 1 September 1942 , Bungay points out that even if Marseille shot down 15 of the 17 he claimed that day , " the rest of the 100 or so German fighter pilots between them only got five . The British [ sic ] lost no bombers at all . . . During this period the DAF lost only a few bombers , but all fell to anti - aircraft defences and evidence shows that Rommel was forced onto the defensive because of the losses inflicted by bombers . Summary of career . Decorations . Sometime in the early 1990s , one of Marseille ' s biographers , Robert Tate , visited the former Marseille - Kaserne base and Museum to see and photograph Marseille ' s medals . When he arrived , Tate was informed the " Knights Cross , Oak Leaves , Swords and Diamonds " belonging to Marseille had already been stolen . Dates of rank . Hans - Joachim Marseille joined the military service in Wehrmacht on 7 November 1938 . His first station was Quedlinburg in the Harz region where he received his military basic training as a Luftwaffe recruit . Stations of operation . Hans - Joachim Marseille , after he had completed his training at the " Jagdfliegerschule 5 " , was assigned to the " Ergänzungsjagdgruppe Merseburg " stationed at the airport in Merseburg - West . Controversy . A very controversial event in " The Star of Africa " , the fictionalized 1957 movie about his life , described an incident that occurred shortly after Marseille was presented the Swords to the Knight ' s Cross . The young " Oberleutnant " , while on visit in Germany , was presented with evidence of the Final Solution ( Holocaust ) . Shocked by this information , he did not return to North Africa but went into hiding in Italy instead . Only after the " Gestapo " established his whereabouts and pressured him , did he return to his " Geschwader " .