was hastily set up. The commission's report concluded that the crash was caused by damage to the differential gear, which caused an oil leak. Then a number of teeth broke off the spur wheel and ignited the oil. Sabotage or human error was ruled out. The aircraft, W. Nr. 14256, was ferried to the unit via Bari, Italy. The mission that ended in its destruction was its first mission. Schland and Pöttgen's statements led Neuman to conclude there had been no fire and that a glycol leak was responsible for the engine failure. He ruled out the existence of a fire, for he did not believe Marseille could have spoken for nine minutes without fatigue in smoke caused by a fire. JG 27 was moved out of Africa for about a month because of the impact Marseille's death had on morale. The deaths of two other German aces, Günter Steinhausen and Marseille's friend Hans-Arnold Stahlschmidt, just three weeks earlier reduced spirits to an all-time low. One biographer suggests these consequences were instigated by a failure in the command style of Marseille, although it was not entirely within his control. The more success Marseille had, the more his staffel relied on him to carry the greater share of aerial victories claimed by the unit. So his death, when it came, was something which JG 27 had seemingly not prepared for. Historians Hans Ring and Christopher Shores also point to the fact that Marseille's promotions were based on personal success rates more than any other reason, and other pilots did not get to score air victories, let alone become Experten themselves. They flew support as the "maestro showed them how it was done", and often "held back from attacking enemy aircraft to build his score still higher". As a result there were no other Experten to step into Marseille's shoes if he was killed. Eduard Neumann explained: "This handicap [that very few pilots scored] was partially overcome by the morale effect on the whole Geschwader of the success of pilots like Marseille. In fact most of the pilots in Marseille's Staffel acted in secondary role as escort to the 'master.'" Marseille's impact on Allied fighter pilots and their morale is unclear. Andrew Thomas quoted Pilot Officer Bert Houle of No. 213 Squadron RAF; "He was an extremely skilled pilot and a deadly shot. It was a helpless feeling to be continually bounced,