In his first dogfight over England on 24 August 1940, Marseille engaged in a four-minute battle with a skilled opponent while flying Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-3 W.Nr. 3579. He defeated his opponent by pulling up into a tight chandelle, to gain an altitude advantage before diving and firing. The British fighter was struck in the engine, pitched over and dived into the English Channel; this was Marseille's first victory. Marseille was then engaged from above by more Allied fighters. By pushing his aircraft into a steep dive, then pulling up metres above the water, Marseille escaped from the machine gun fire of his opponents: "skipping away over the waves, I made a clean break. No one followed me and I returned to Leeuwarden was based near Calais, not Leeuwarden." The act was not praised by his unit. Marseille was reprimanded when it emerged he had abandoned his wingman, and "staffel" to engage the opponent alone. In so doing, Marseille had violated a basic rule of air combat. Reportedly, Marseille did not take any pleasure in this victory and found it difficult to accept the realities of aerial combat.