how Marseille once ignored an order to turn back from a fight when outnumbered by two to one, but seeing an Allied aircraft closing on his wing leader, Marseille broke formation and shot the attacking aircraft down. Expecting congratulations when he landed, his commander was critical of his actions, and Marseille received three days of confinement for failing to carry out an order. Days later, Marseille was passed over for promotion and was now the sole Fähnrich in the Geschwader. This was a humiliation for him, suspecting that his abilities were being suppressed so the squadron leaders could take all the glory in the air. Shortly afterwards, in early October 1940, after having claimed seven aerial victories all of them while flying with I.(Jagd)/LG 2 Marseille was transferred to 4. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 52, flying alongside the likes of Johannes Steinhoff and Gerhard Barkhorn. He wrote off four aircraft as a result of operations during this period. On 9 December, Oberleutnant Rudolf Resch confined Marseille to his room for five days for calling a fellow pilot a "goofy pig" (). As punishment for "insubordination"—rumoured to be his penchant for American jazz music, womanising and an overt "playboy" lifestyle—and inability to fly as a wingman, Steinhoff transferred Marseille to Jagdgeschwader 27 on 24 December 1940. Steinhoff later 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 new Gruppenkommandeur, Eduard Neumann, later recalled, "His hair was too long and he brought with him a list of disciplinary punishments as long as your arm. He was tempestuous, temperamental and unruly. Thirty years later, he would have been called a playboy." Nevertheless, Neumann quickly recognised Marseille's potential as a pilot. He stated in an interview: "Marseille could only be one of two, either a disciplinary problem or a great fighter pilot." Jagdgeschwader 27 was soon relocated to North Africa. Arrival in North Africa Marseille's unit briefly saw action during the invasion of Yugoslavia, deployed to Zagreb on 10 April 1941, before transferring to Africa. On 20 April on his flight from Tripoli to his front airstrip, Marseille's Bf 109 E-7 (Werknummer 1259) developed