This earned him a type 82 Volkswagen Kübelwagen as a gift, as well as the rank of Hauptmann (Captain) – becoming the youngest to hold that position. Eight of these were shot down in 10 minutes – the most brought down by a lone pilot in a single day. Whatever the case, September 1942 was his most productive month with 54 kills. It should be noted, however, that the British deny this, claiming he shot down less. It must have worked on September 1 he downed 17 planes in three sorties – bringing his total to a whopping 126. He had a fiancée, at the time, and some historians suggest she was the leverage they used on him. The Gestapo found him, eventually, and convinced him to return to his base. On August 13, he was in Italy to receive an award from Benito Mussolini, after which he disappeared. The official line was that the Jews had simply been sent off to Eastern Europe. That visibly upset him as his family had been friends with a Jewish doctor who had delivered him at birth. The following month, Marseille was at another party when he heard officials talking about the Jews. He did so, starting with some classics before moving on to play American jazz – which was banned as Hitler considered it “degenerate.” Upset, Hitler left. During a party hosted by Willy Messerschmitt (designer of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter plane), he was asked to play the piano.
He was sent back to Germany in June to meet Hitler. As a result, he used far fewer bullets than most – averaging about 15 per hit. He not only took risks that went against the rulebooks but also learned to get in close to his enemies. He took it a step further, however, by coming at them from a high angle instead of the standard fly-in-from-behind-them-and-shoot. This involves shooting not at the enemy per se, but at where they will be, based on their trajectory. It was in North Africa that he learned to hone his skills, mastering a form of aerial combat known as deflection shooting. Based at an airfield just outside Tripoli, Libya, the lack of available women would eventually change all that. Marseille was a party animal who was often too hung over to fly. 213 Squadron RAF he shot down. Bundesarchiv – CC BY-SA 3.0 de
Which was why he transferred the new kid to North Africa – where he would earn the title, “Star of Africa.” Marseille in February 1942 standing beside the Hurricane Mk IIB of No. Neumann knew that Marseille was a troublemaker but saw his potential. Then they transferred him to JG 27 on December 24 under Group Commander Eduard Neumann. So Marseille achieved three more victories before they kicked him out and reassigned him to the 52 nd Fighter Wing (JG 52). There was a war on, and Germany needed every able-bodied man it had. He had ditched his leader, who was killed. His fourth victory occurred on September 18 for which he again got in trouble. Marseille joined the attack on Britain on August 24 and shot down his first British plane but at the cost of abandoning his wingman, for which he got in trouble. To everyone’s surprise, he graduated with an outstanding assessment on July 18, 1940. On November 1, 1939, Marseille was posted to the 5 th fighter pilot school. This and many other such incidents held him back while his colleagues graduated and attained rank. Upset, they called the authorities, causing him to be suspended. He took off just as a group of farmers arrived, blasting them away with his slipstream. During one cross-country flight, he landed in a field to relieve himself. He joined the Luftwaffe (German Airforce) on November 7, 1938. Spoiled and pampered because of that, he never learned to respect authority and developed a reputation as a lazy, rebellious, and troublesome student. As a child, he had been rather sickly and almost died from influenza. Bundesarchiv – CC BY-SA 3.0 deĪs for Hans-Joachim Marseille, he was not expected to enter the military.