 On 5 May 1942 his Spitfire was shot down over northern France while escorting bombers attacking Lille, and crash-landed near Hazebrouck, within the heavily defended Atlantic Wall.He evaded capture and made his way through the occupied and "free" Vichy France, over the Pyrenees to Spain where he was captured and imprisoned in a concentration camp at Miranda de Ebro.As a result of British diplomatic intervention Fajtl was released after few weeks and returned to his squadron in England via Gibraltar.