September 30, 2022 marks the 80th anniversary of the death of perhaps the finest fighter pilot of World War II: Hans-Joachim Marseille. This article focuses only on September 1942. It was truly a month like no other for in this month, Marseille rewrote the book on fighter-to-fighter combat. In addition to claiming an astounding 54 kills, including 17 of those on September 1, he saw two friends and colleagues die, met three high-ranking military leaders, was promoted to Captain, crashed an Italian fighter, found an unlikely friend in a Black South African prisoner of war, and was awarded Germany’s highest award. But as September ended, the “Star of Africa” lay dead in the Egyptian sand.
Setting the Stage
After scoring his 101st victory on June 17, a combat-weary and sickly Marseille was once again sent back to Germany for a much-needed break. In the previous five months, he had not only secured his position as the top ace in North Africa by registering 64 victories, but he had to grieve over the murder of his beloved sister and, like many, he fought an unrelenting battle against dysentery and other ailments. Although much has been written about this leave, unfortunately some of the more controversial aspects are difficult to definitively corroborate. In addition to visiting family, Marseille received the Swords to the Knight’s Cross from Hitler on June 18 and then the Militare from Mussolini on August 6. He attended numerous high-level social galas and press junkets, completed a highly publicized visit to the Messerschmitt-Werke in Augsburg, where he met both Willy Messerschmitt and chief test pilot Fritz
