This is a non-fiction anthology series recounting the lifes and experiences of notable soldiers who fought in it.
-releases a new story weekly.
-Annuals every end of the month.
NOTE: these experiences are recounted from media interviews. diaries and...
borned on December the 13th 1919 from Charlotte Marie Johanna Pauline Gertrud Riemer, and her husband, Siegfried Georg Martin Marseille who was a hauptmann in the German Army.
He was a pchysically weak child and even almost died due to influenza.
he lived a normal childhood besides at one point his father divorced his mother, he even had a sister.
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 a lazy and naughty kid by most, but arround 17, he started thinking of education seriously and graduated in 1938.
he joined the Luftwaffe, on 7 November 1938, as a Fahnenjunker (officer candidate) and received his military basic training in Quedlinburg in the Harz region.
he was transported to Luftkriegsschule (LKS 4—air war school) near Fürstenfeldbruck.
in Luftkriegschule his friend, Werner Schröer described him as undicipline, this behaviour resulted in Marseille getting punished there.
this lack of dicipline will characterized the rest of his Luftwaffe career, this behaviour develops in his young adult life.
in this time he also had a problematic relationship with his father, but he did have a step-father.
in his Luftwaffe career he proofs to be trouble, he once break protocol and had a imaginary dog fight during training....
Hauptmann Mueller-Rohrmoser would punished him for his behaviour.
indiscipline left him with the rank of Oberfähnrich at the end of 1941 when he graduated.
at this point a tragedy would happen in his life, his sister would passed away in 1941 which lefted Marseille devastated.
despite this he still fought, notable engagement he partake includes, the Battle Of Brittain, he manages to gain his first kill tho in a letter to his mother, "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." he seems to feel remorse for it.
in the battle of brittain he racks many victory, he once crashed to shore but it was do to engine failures.
tho he was popular with the other pilot, notable pilot, Johannes Steinhoff recalled...
"Marseille was extremely handsome. He was a very gifted pilot, but he was unreliable. He had girl friends everywhere, and they kept him so busy that he was sometimes so worn out that he had to be grounded. His sometime irresponsible way of conducting his duties was the main reason I fired him. But he had irresistible charm”
“His hair was too long and he brought with him a list of disciplinary punishments as long as your arm. Of the 7 "kills" he had claimed fighting along the English Channel, 4 had not been confirmed – a large percentage. On top of it all, he was a Berliner… In trying to create an image, he wasn’t averse from talking about the many girls he had been to bed with, among them a famous actress. He was tempestuous, temperamental and unruly. Thirty years later, he would have been called a playboy.”
due to his playboy behaviour and stubborness he was transported to the Jagdgeschwader 27 on 24 December 1940.
but he woudn't get to true fame until now. 10 April 1941. North Africa....
his engagement in North Africa gained him fame, from his many engagements here, victory after victory, his tactics, he would seperate enemy fighter formation, he would use his surroundings to his advantage just like what he did in his first kill in Brittain.
notable moment here tho, when James Dennis defeated Marseille twice! and Dennis even gains Marseille's respect. him being the view pilots who ever take him down, and he did twice!
"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 aircraft shot down)" one of his co-worker later talked about Marseille's strategy.
in one notable encounter, Marseille took down 5 aircrafts in 6 minutes, and 3 of those pilots we're ally aces....
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.
during this time he also meet Italian Dictator and Hitler ally Benito Mussolini who gave him 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...
he shot down 18 enemy fighters in 10 minutes, this earned him a of all things a car as a reward.
Marseille seems to be getting tired of combat tho.
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.
his winning streak won't last much longer tho, on 30 September 1942 on a mission, Marseille was on a uneventfull mission of escorting Stukas when smoke filled his cockpit due to malfunction...
Marseille tries to bail out, 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, and his body fall, and died....
His grave bears a one-word epitaph: Undefeated. It is understood that after the war, Hans-Joachim Marseille's remains were brought from Derna and reinterred in the memorial gardens at Tobruk; it was there that his mother visited his grave in 1954. His remains are now in a small clay coffin (sarcophagus) bearing the number 4133
and with that, the great Ace, the hot head, and cocky playboy, who amassed one of the highest victories in the war. was killed due to a accident. his legacy lives on however, combination of his ego, and attitude, and his skill, combined with his handsome looks, gain him fame in the modern day.
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Rest In Peace, Hans-Joachim Marseille, 1919 - 1942.
