Blenheim had made a mistake and was firing at us or choosing an awkward spot to clear his guns. Bullets whistled around, so we dived into the slit trench. A Messerschmitt, hot on the tail of the Blenheim, was responsible for the bullets. The Blenheim roared down the wadi, out to sea, trying to escape from the Messerschmitt, but the Messerschmitt was too close. The Blenheim fell out of the sky and crashed into the sea. The plane disappeared completely not leaving a trace. The Messerschmitt banked and flew inland again." Neumann (Geschwaderkommodore as of 10 June 1942) encouraged Marseille to self-train to improve his abilities. By this time, he had crashed or damaged another four Bf 109 E aircraft, including an aircraft he was ferrying on 23 April 1941. Marseille's kill rate was low, and he went from June to August without a victory. He was further frustrated after damage forced him to land on two occasions: once on 14 June 1941 and again after he was hit by ground fire over Tobruk and was forced to land blind. His tactic of diving into opposing formations often found him under fire from all directions, resulting in his aircraft frequently being damaged beyond repair; consequently, Neumann grew impatient with him. Marseille persisted, and created a unique self-training programme for himself, both physical and tactical, which resulted not only in outstanding situational awareness, marksmanship and confident control of the aircraft, but also in a unique attack tactic that preferred a high angle deflection shooting attack and shooting at the target's front from the side, instead of the common method of chasing an aircraft and shooting at it directly from behind. Marseille often practiced these tactics on the way back from missions with his comrades and became known as a master of deflection shooting. As Marseille began to claim Allied aircraft regularly, on occasion he personally looked after the welfare of the pilot and other Allied airmen he had downed, driving out to remote crash sites to rescue them. On 13 September 1941 Marseille shot down Pat Byers of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) No. 451 Squadron. Marseille flew to Byers' airfield and dropped a note informing the Australians of his condition and treatment. He returned several days later to second the first note with news of Byers' death. Marseille repeated these sorties after being warned by Neumann that Göring had