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 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. Marseille had a narrow escape on 13 May 1942, when his Bf 109 was damaged during a dogfight with 12 Curtiss Kittyhawks (Mk I) from No. 3 Squadron RAAF, southeast of Gazala and over the Gulf of Bomba ("Gazala Bay"). With a wingman, Marseille bounced the Kittyhawks. After he downed one of the Australian pilots, Flying Officer Graham Pace in AL172, Marseille's Bf 109 took hits in the oil tank and propeller, likely from Flying Officer Geoff Chinchen, who reported damaging one of the Messerschmitts. Marseille nevertheless managed to shoot down another Kittyhawk (Sergeant Colin McDiarmid; AK855), before nursing his overheating aircraft back to base. The repairs to Marseille's Bf 109 took two days. The aerial victories were recorded as numbers 57 and 58. Weeks later, on 30 May, Marseille performed another mercy mission after witnessing his 65th victory—Pilot Officer Graham George Buckland of No. 250 Squadron RAF—strike the tail plane of his fighter and fall to his death when the parachute did not open. After landing he drove out to the crash site. The P-40 had landed over Allied lines but they found the dead pilot within German territory. Marseille marked his grave, collected his papers and verified his identity, then flew to Buckland's airfield to deliver a letter of regret. Buckland died two days before his 21st birthday. His attack method to break up formations, which he perfected, resulted in a high proportion of victories, and in rapid, multiple victories per attack. On 3 June 1942, Marseille attacked a formation of 16 Curtiss P-40 fighters and shot down six aircraft of