pamvce:

A morte me persegue, hoje eu desisto de fugir; Pronta para morrer.

by : VLB- Pamela A. - Branca.

(Source: tomw8s)

historicalawesomeness:

North Africa

Marseille’s unit briefly saw action during theinvasion of Yugoslavia, deployed toZagrebon 10 April 1941, before transferring to Africa. On 20 April on his flight fromTripolito 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 ownOpel Admiral, complete withchauffeur. “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 kills on 23 April 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, aFree French pilot withNo. 73 Squadron RAF (8.5 kills), 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 Bf 109E aircraft, including atropicalised 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 overTobrukand 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 outstandingsituational awareness, marksmanship and confident control of the aircraft, but also in a unique attack tactic that preferred a high angledeflection shootingattack 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.

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 confirmed victories and was duly awarded the German Crossin 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.”

Marseille always strove to improve his abilities. He worked to strengthen his legs and abdominal muscles, to help him tolerate the extremeg forcesof 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 circles” (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.^[38]

In combat, Marseille’s unorthodox methods led him to operate in a small leader/wingmanunit, 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 adogfight, 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 Cladesaid 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 kills) 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 friendHans-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-40fighters 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:

All the enemy were shot down by Marseille in a turning dogfight. As soon as he shot, he needed only to glance at the enemy plane. His pattern [of gunfire] began at the front, the engine’s nose, and consistently ended in the cockpit. How he was able to do this not even he could explain. With every dogfight he would throttle back as far as possible; this enabled him to fly tighter turns. His expenditure of ammunition in this air battle was 360 rounds (60 per kill).

After claiming his 100th kill 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 Mussoliniin Romeand 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 score 54 kills, 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 Kübelwagenby an Italian Regia Aeronauticasquadron, 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 kills 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 atFuka, 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 kills 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 the 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.