by Oberleutnant Hans-Jürgen Westphal. Channel Front On 6 July 1941, the Royal Air Force (RAF) flew "Circus" No. 35 and targeted Lille and the Fives-Lille engineering company. In defense of this attack, Galland claimed his first aerial victory over a Supermarine Spitfire fighter. This aerial victory was not confirmed, and he was not given credit for this claim. Westphal was wounded on 13 August and command of 8. Staffel passed on to Hauptmann Johann Schmid. Galland was credited with his first aerial victory on 4 September 1941 when he shot down a Spitfire at 17:30. The RAF flew "Circus" No. 93 that day, targeting the Mazingarbe ammonia factory. His third claim, which again remained unconfirmed, was filed on 17 September. "Circus" No. 95 and 96 targeted the Mazingrabe power station and the Shell Oil plant at Marquise with 24 Bristol Blenheim bombers and six Handley Page Hampden bombers. In this encounter, Galland had claimed a Spitfire from No. 306 Polish Fighter Squadron. On 19 October, III. Gruppe moved to a makeshift airfield at Coquelles, close to Calais on the English Channel. There, they began preparations for operating the then new Focke Wulf Fw 190 A-1. The Gruppe was fully reequipped and operational with the Fw 190 in mid-November 1941. On 6 November, Schmid was killed in action and Oberleutnant Karl Borris was chosen as his successor. A month later, his brother Adolf was appointed General der Jagdflieger (General of Fighters) on 5 December 1941. In consequence of Adolf's advance in command responsibility, Schöpfel succeeded him as Geschwaderkommodore of JG 26 and Hauptmann Josef Priller became the new Gruppenkommandeur of III. Gruppe. Galland claimed his second confirmed aerial victory during Operation Donnerkeil. The objective of this operation was to give the German battleships and and the heavy cruiser fighter protection in the breakout from Brest to Germany. The Channel Dash operation (11–13 February 1942) by the Kriegsmarine was codenamed Operation Cerberus by the Germans. In support of this, the Luftwaffe, formulated an air superiority plan dubbed Operation Donnerkeil for the protection of the three German capital ships. Sources vary with respect to the number of aerial victories Galland was credited with during this operation. According to Caldwell, Galland was credited with a single Fairey Swordfish biplane torpedo bomber from 825 Naval Air Squadron shot down at 13:45 on 12 February north of Gravelines. While authors Mathews and Foreman list him with