historian Stephen Bungay gives a figure of 20 Allied losses that day. However, the claims for 15 September 1942 are in serious doubt, following the first detailed scrutiny of the records of individual Allied squadrons by Australian historian Russell Brown. Moreover, Brown lists three occasions on which Marseille could not have downed as many aircraft as claimed. Christopher Shores and his co-authors wrote that Marseille over-claimed on occasion, particularly in September 1942. They concluded Marseille had developed such a supreme confidence in his ability his mentality dictated, "If I fire at it, it must go down." They estimate two-thirds to three-quarters of his claims were aircraft that were destroyed, crash-landed or at least were heavily damaged. Stephan Bungay has pointed out the low military value of shooting down DAF fighters, rather than the bombers that, by mid-1942, were having a highly damaging effect on Axis ground units and convoy routes. Referring to 1 September 1942, Bungay points out that even if Marseille shot down 15 of the 17 he claimed that day, "the rest of the 100 or so German fighter pilots between them only got five. The British [sic] lost no bombers at all... During this period the DAF lost only a few bombers, but all fell to anti-aircraft defences and evidence shows that Rommel was forced onto the defensive because of the losses inflicted by bombers. Decorations Sometime in the early 1990s, one of Marseille's biographers, Robert Tate, visited the former Marseille-Kaserne base and Museum to see and photograph Marseille's medals. When he arrived, Tate was informed the Knights Cross, Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds belonging to Marseille had been stolen. Dates of rank Marseille joined the military service in Wehrmacht on 7 November 1938. His first station was Quedlinburg in the Harz region where he received his military basic training as a Luftwaffe recruit. Notes References Citations Bibliography External links 1919 births 1942 deaths Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents Luftwaffe personnel killed in World War II German people of French descent German World War II flying aces Luftwaffe pilots Military personnel from Berlin Recipients of the Gold German Cross Recipients of the Gold Medal of Military Valor Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds Recipients of the Silver Medal of Military Valor Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Egypt Reich Labour Service members