During the period at the start of the war when Poland was under attack the Battle was used to fly reconnaissance missions over the German front line in the West It was during one of these missions on 20 September 1939 that a Fairey Battle of No 88 Squadron shot down a Messerschmitt Bf 109 giving the Battle the honour of having achieved the first RAF kill of the war However the phoney war period also saw the Battle suffer significant losses and once the Battle of France commenced the losses became unacceptable and the aircraft was withdrawn but not after two posthumous Victoria Crosses were awarded to Flight Officer D E Garland and his observer Sgt T Gray