The Battle of Britain Five Months That Changed History, May—October 1940 by James Holland (z-lib.org).epub

Staffel commander, Herbert Fermer, and one of his pilots, Erich Frank, had
been declared missing. So too had Wolf-Dietrich von Houwald, the Gruppe
commander. Both von Houwald and Frank were washed up near Dunkirk a
few days later. For Günther’s 8th Staffel, there was a massive blow: their
CO, Lothar Ehrlich, was also missing. Günther’s premonition had been
proved right.
Although only twenty-two, Günther was told he would be taking over
command of 8th Staffel with immediate effect. Suddenly, he was
responsible for the pilots and eighty groundcrew. As he was discovering,
promotions could come quickly during times of war.
Dolfo Galland had learned this already. Now a major, he had led his Gruppe
to Caffiers, just a few miles south of Calais, on 21 July, having had the
honour of patrolling over the Kroll Opera House as Hitler had made his
Reichstag address. Caffiers was another rough field, with basic facilities.
Most of the men were tented, although the pilots were billeted in houses
nearby. Their Messerschmitts were dispersed under trees and between
hedges around the edge of the field, beneath camouflage nets.
Although the Geschwader Stab (headquarters) had still not arrived,
Dolfo had declared his third Gruppe ready for action on the 24th. It, too,
had been sent over the Channel in the murky drizzle, Dolfo leading the
Gruppe’s three Staffeln shortly after III/JG 52, this time, however, escorting
eighteen Do 17s. Soon engaged by Spitfires of 54 Squadron, Dolfo had
found it hard to shake off the British fighters and seeing the little red light
of his fuel gauge light up had decided the only way to get out of the fray
was to dive quickly away, the Spitfires seemingly unable to follow, then
hurry back low across the sea.
He had not been impressed by his pilots’ discipline, however. In the
excitement of action, basic lessons had been forgotten; wingmen had not
stuck to their leaders, pilots had fired from too far away, and had missed
other firing opportunities. They had shot down one Spitfire from 54
Squadron and damaged another, but had lost two men themselves, including
the Gruppe’s technical officer, a former test pilot, Oberleutnant Werner
Bartels. Gathering his pilots together, Dolfo gave them a roasting. Their
performance, he told them, had not been good enough – not good enough at
all. They needed to improve and fast, because as Dolfo knew, from now on
they would be in the very thick of the action.