Famed for his time in Colditz, Bruce also escaped from Spangenberg Castle and the Warburg POW camp. In Spangenberg Castle he escaped with the Swiss Red Cross Commission escape, it is also argued he co-innovated the wooden horse escape technique while serving time inside Spangenberg. In Warburg he escaped dressed as a British orderly in a fake workers party. Inside Colditz Castle, Bruce authored the Tea Chest Escape and also faced a firing squad for an attempted escape via a sewer tunnel. While held in solitude in Colditz Bruce, along with two other prisoners, became a key witness to the post war Musketoon commando raid trial.
For his exploits, Bruce was awarded the Military Cross and is the only known person to have received both the Military Cross and the Air Force Medal. Bruce has also featured prominently in books, sound recordings, TV and film. In his later years he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his services to education.
Bruce was born on 7 June 1915, in Hebburn,Шаблон:SfnpCounty Durham, England. He was the second of the four children of William and Mary (Шаблон:Nee McClurry) Bruce.Шаблон:Sfnp Mary Bruce was awarded the British Empire Medal in 1956 for her services to the care of the sick and infirm and was known as the 'Angel of Hebburn'.
His elder brother was Brother Thomas (William) Bruce, a member of the De La Salle religious congregation or Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools who died in Nazareth in 1974, and is buried in a wall tomb in the crypt of the University of Bethlehem. His two younger siblings were Anne Bruce-Kimber and John Bruce (who died 7th May, 1925, aged 3).Шаблон:Cn
Dominic Bruce's escaping adventures started early in his life when he ran away from home by means of a train to London. Remarkably on arrival in London he was recognised by a police officer married to his father's sister Anne. He was quickly returned to Shakespeare Avenue in Hebburn. Bruce was educated at and matriculated from St Cuthbert's Grammar School, Newcastle, 1927–1935.Шаблон:Sfnp
He was of an adventurous disposition and as an alternative to his formal education he spent some time as an unauthorised visitor to the Newcastle Law CourtsШаблон:Refn during school time.Шаблон:Sfnp
Bruce married Mary Brigid Lagan on 25 June 1938 at Corpus Christi Catholic Church, Maiden Lane.Шаблон:Cn
Early RAF career
On joining the Royal Air Force in 1935 he trained as a wireless operator,Шаблон:Sfnp then as an airgunner.Шаблон:Sfnp In November 1936, Bruce joined No. 214 Squadron at Scampton. Scampton was equipped with Virginias and Harrows.Шаблон:Sfnp On 25 March 1937, he was involved in the crash of the Handley Page Harrow "K6940" which resulted from a badly judged descent which removed the roof of a train travelling on railway lines adjacent to the Handley Page works airfield at Radlett.Шаблон:SfnpШаблон:Sfnp
On 6 October 1938, while with No. 214 Squadron, he survived the crash of Harrow "K6991" at Pontefract, Yorkshire.Шаблон:Sfnp While acting as a wireless operator for his aircraft, he was knocked out by a lightning strike.Шаблон:Sfnp Once recovered, he alerted his base to the fact that the crew were bailing out. Wishing to get out of an escape hatch, he found his way blocked by other airmen who were hesitating about throwing themselves out of the aircraft into the howling darkness. He rushed to the other side of the hatch and jumped. His parachute harness caught on projecting clamps and pulled the trapdoor shut above him. Bruce was now suspended under the bomber and unable to escape further. Realising what had happened, his fellow crew members were now galvanised into action, raised the trapdoor and were shocked to have Bruce shoot back into the aircraft, though not too shocked to eject him again. Bruce was subsequently awarded the Air Force Medal (AFM) on 8 June 1939.Шаблон:SfnpШаблон:Refn According to Pete Tunstall, Bruce was very proud of being the only man known to have bailed from an aircraft three times and to have landed only twice.Шаблон:Sfnp After the war he used to entertain his children with the seemingly insoluble riddle: "How is it that I baled out three times, but only landed twice?" Bruce called his AFM medal the 'Away From Mam' medal.Шаблон:Sfnp
In March 1939, Bruce retrained as an air observer and studied at the Bombing School Stranrear.Шаблон:Sfnp
Second World War
On 1 September 1939, Hitler invaded Poland. On 3 September, Britain and France declared war on Germany.
At this time, following his training, Bruce became an instructor at OTU Harwell.Шаблон:Sfnp
In May 1940, he was posted to No. 9 Squadron which was equipped with Vickers Wellingtons.Шаблон:Sfnp After 25 operations, Bruce became the squadron's Navigation and Bombing Leader, which was a staff appointment with restricted operational flying duties.Шаблон:Sfnp By 1940, Bruce, had won an AFM, was part of the staff, was a qualified instructor, had experience as a wireless operator, air-gunner and navigator with No. 9 Squadron.Шаблон:Sfnp As he relates in the IWM tapes, he was in combat during the Dunkirk retreat, attempting to bomb the advancing German forces so that more British and French troops could cross the Channel safely. Curiously, he was also connected to another famous incident in WWII, Operation Chastise (commonly known as the Dambusters Raid) in 1943, given that while escaping from Spangenberg in the celebrated 'Swiss Red Cross Commission' escape, he and his comrades actually walked on top of the Eder Dam, which was breached by his RAF colleagues on 17 May 1943 .
His account (including a photo of the actual handwritten report) of a bombing raid, on military infrastructure in Leverkusen in 1940 can be read in 'Voices of Colditz.'Шаблон:Sfnp The report describes the aircraft swinging around Cologne on a moonlight night, Bruce using the silver river Rhine as the navigational signpost; how the guns were firing more to make it look like a raid than to hit the aircraft; and how the run up in this raid was textbook. He finishes the report, mentioning the parking in the hangar; highlighting his workload filling up his bulky navigator's satchel and how he sadly climbed out of the plane on to nothing, resulting in him receiving a sprained ankle.Шаблон:Sfnp
On 20 January 1941, Acting Flight Sergeant Bruce was granted a commission "for the duration of hostilities" as a probationary pilot officer, with seniority from 8 January.Шаблон:Sfnp By June 1941 Bruce had been promoted to flying officer.Шаблон:Sfnp
Camaraderie with messmates
Pranks
Файл:DB raid on Brest.tifBruce (far right) with Wellington bomber crew about to raid the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau at Brest in April 1941 shortly before his capture
Bruce was a notorious prankster. In Pat Reid's book about Colditz, he describes how a group of new Navy entrants to the castle were horrified when a uniformed German doctor (in fact Howard Gee, one of the 'Prominente' hostages) insisted that they were lice-ridden and must strip naked for their private parts to be treated by his medical orderly. This alarming figure in white overalls would approach each man with a lavatory brush dipped in a bucket of evil smelling blue liquid (consisting of lavatory disinfectant and theatrical paint) and dab each man's genitals. The new boys would later realise that the evilly grinning orderly was Bruce.Шаблон:Sfnp
In the IWM interview tapes held in the Imperial War Museum Sound Archive, Bruce tells the tale of a bombing mission over Berlin when he persuaded the pilot to descend to five hundred feet over the city. Bruce climbed down into the now empty bomb bay, hand cranked the doors open; sat on the bomb rack and threw a lit distress flare out of the plane. When asked later why, he answered "Because I've always wanted to see the Unter den Linden lit up at night."Шаблон:SfnpШаблон:Sfnp
In the same IWM interview tapes, Bruce describes a prank he played on some German soldiers who were guarding a working party of British soldiers. During the aftermath of the 'Tea Chest' escape, Bruce was travelling through Germany on a stolen bicycle and, coming across the file of soldiers being marched down a street, decided to cheer them up. He cycled up to the head of the column shouting out words of encouragement, saying they were not to worry because we were winning the war. On hearing the unmistakable tones of a British officer, the surprised soldiers started to cheer. Before the shocked guards could overcome their confusion and unsling their rifles to take aim at him, Bruce had accelerated around a corner and disappeared.Шаблон:SfnpШаблон:Sfnp
Bruce, like a lot of his comrades, participated in goon baiting.Шаблон:SfnpReinhold Eggers was the Colditz Castle's security officer succeeding Priem, and like Priem, was a schoolmaster by profession.Шаблон:Sfnp In his book 'Colditz: the German Story' (1961, translation by Howard Gee), Eggers describes how Bruce was fond of sowing confusion amongst the German guards during Appel, or roll call, using the 'rabbit run' prank. Bruce would stand in the ranks, wait until he had been counted, then duck quickly along the line, only to be counted again at the other end. This trick was also used for more serious purposes, to cover up for a missing escapee.Шаблон:Sfnp
As a POW, Bruce would go on to spend eight months inside solitary confinement, mainly as a result of his escaping activities.Шаблон:Sfnp Eggers knowing Bruce was a regular in the solitary cells, would explain to Bruce, upon each arrival to the cells that as Bruce already knew the rules, he would not read out the rules... Bruce in turn would always try to bait Eggers after this response, by always reasserting with humour, 'that if he did not read him out the rules..., he would do something to break rule 1..., and then break rule 2...; and break rule 3,’ and so on...Шаблон:Sfnp Under the Geneva Convention prisoners in solitary confinement were given a welcomed, one hour's exercise time. Eggers also used the exercise time to exercise his pet dog with the prisoners; this was welcomed by Bruce.Шаблон:Sfnp Eggers in turn was noted by some prisoners as very controlled and fair when compared to a few other guards in the chain of commandШаблон:Sfnp who advocated for corpses in the yard.Шаблон:Sfnp Bruce explained Eggers as 'a man who could not be bribed,’Шаблон:Sfnp Bruce's comrade, Tunstall, in contrast, wrote that though Eggers was believed to be an anti-Nazi, he was a man whom he and others could not trust, a man who was prejudiced after reading the exaggerated crime sheets, concocted by Rademacher, that got rid of Bruce and him to Colditz.Шаблон:Sfnp Eggers was thought of as very composed and a tough guard to goon bait.Шаблон:Sfnp
John 'Bosun' Chrisp explained that after their sewer drain escape attempt, Bruce billed the Kommandant and Staff Paymaster Heinze in the castle for £600 on behalf of Chrisp, Lorraine and Bruce, for their service of cleaning the drains that had not been cleaned for 300 years.Шаблон:Sfnp
Nicknames
In his IWM interview tapes, he tells how he fooled the King's cousin Viscount Lascelles (later the Earl of Harewood, he was being kept in Colditz as a hostage by the SS) into believing that the average or medium size of homo sapiens was 5 feet 3 inches (his own height). When Lascelles told his mess mates about this novel theory it did not take them long to discover who had fooled him. That resulted in his nickname, 'the Medium Sized Man.'Шаблон:SfnpШаблон:Sfnp Bruce was also known as the 'Medium Sized Officer.'Шаблон:SfnpHe was also known as 'Brucie' or 'Bruce.'Шаблон:Sfnp
During his failed escape under the wire at Colditz, he discovered his German nickname, as the guard who fell over him in the dark (and in his fright shot at Bruce, just barely missing his eyebrow) answered the security patrol's question as to who it was by saying 'Der Kleine' ('the little one'). The sentry overcame his shock only to burst out laughing when Bruce shouted "I surrender" in an effort to prevent him shooting again. When he emerged from his six-week sentence in solitary confinement he asked another prisoner, Cyril Lewthwaite, who spoke excellent German, if he could explain the guard's odd reaction. Lewthwaite asked Bruce what he had said in German. Bruce obliged, whereupon Lewthwaite pointed out that "Ich ueber gebe mich" does not in fact mean "I surrender" but "I am going to be sick" (taken from a private letter to Peter Tunstall dated 5 September 1979).Шаблон:Sfnp
Character
Notoriously short tempered (his father 'Billie' Bruce was supposed to be the 'worst tempered man in the North of England') he was described as 'as hard as nails' by his fellow Spangenberg inmate, Squadron Leader Eric Foster, in his autobiography.Шаблон:Sfnp Tunstall explained Bruce was very meticulous, and gave plaudits to him by describing him as having the draw of a big personality.Шаблон:Sfnp After the Swiss commission escape, Tunstall also claimed that compared to him with his bad ankle, Bruce and Newborn had mental toughness to keep going whilst on the march; and that of the three Bruce, with his stamina, was the pacesetter.Шаблон:Sfnp
Ingenious he may have been, but not all Bruce's escape ideas were successful. The Colditz dentist, Julius Green (in his book From Colditz in Code) tells the story of an escape attempt that was a little too ingenious. Bruce persuaded a friend, Rex Harrison of the Green Howards, who was six feet five inches, to carry him inside his long greatcoat from a series of straps. Rex was to carry a football under his arm, into which Bruce would put his head using a hole cut into the back of the football. The idea was simple. Harrison would exit the castle to go the exercise park below the castle walls with Bruce clinging to his waist. Once in the park, accomplices would create a distraction, Bruce would slip out from under Harrison's coat, and then hide under a pile of leaves. When the guards counted the prisoners as they re-entered the castle, the count would be identical to the number who went out. Unfortunately, while the duo were practising the escape on a staircase, another inmate came rushing down the stairs, crashed into Harrison, and all three went tumbling down the staircase. Bruce reluctantly abandoned the idea.Шаблон:Sfnp
Wing Commander Roy Arnold
Файл:ROY ARNOLD BLANKENBERGE.jpgThe Blankenberge grave of Wing Commander Roy George Claringbould Arnold MDФайл:FATHER SKY TV INTERVIEW.jpgBruce (middle, in flying suit and Caterpillar Club tie, glass in hand, aged 80) being interviewed by a SKY TV reporter, at RAF Fairford during the RAF 50th Anniversary Victory Airshow in 1995, where he was chosen to represent RAF veterans of 1935.
On 9 June 1941, while navigating a Wellington bomber over the North Sea, on a mission to bomb enemy shipping on the Dutch and Belgium coast, his aircraft was shot down by what was thought to be two Bf 109s.Шаблон:Sfnp The Bf 109s were first encountered four miles from Calais.Шаблон:Sfnp Walter "Jap" Schneider claimed shooting down Bruce's Wellington.Шаблон:Sfnp
Of No. 9 Squadron's four Wellington planes on this operation, only two came back. In total, 18 aircraft took part in this raid.Шаблон:Sfnp
On this raid, Bruce was part of another scratch crew.Шаблон:Sfnp The crew included: Bruce, Wing Commander pilot Roy Arnold, air-gunner Flying Officer Thomas Albert Bax, air-gunner Sgt. R. H. Barratt who was also from staff, Sgt. James Murray Pinkham and Sgt. Harold Arthur Wink. Arnold stayed at the controls of the burning Wellington, at low height, in order to keep it steady and allow the other five crew members to escape.Шаблон:Sfnp He was thirty years old and married. Arnold is buried in the CWG cemetery at Blankenberge, Belgium.Шаблон:Sfnp The story of his act of self-sacrifice did not emerge until after the war when the crew returned from captivity and could tell their squadron commander. Arnold's bravery was mentioned in dispatches.Шаблон:Sfnp
Zeebrugge capture and Caterpillar Club
In the Second World War, the survival rates for bailing out into the sea were not great with roughly one third survivingШаблон:Sfnp and despite the fact that he could not swim, Bruce, with at least air-gunner Thomas Bax,Шаблон:Sfnp baled out into the sea, hoping that the current would take him south towards France and the resistance life lines that had been established there. However, motor launches were quickly despatched from the port and he was picked by the German Navy in the sea near Zeebrugge. He earned membership of the "Caterpillar Club" as a result of this exit from a "disabled aircraft" as can be seen from his wearing of the Club tie in the photo taken in 1995 at RAF Fairford (right).Шаблон:Refn
He was also a member of the Goldfish Club for those who parachuted into water.
Bruce would later write, "This was a silly daylight raid... with no escort against enemy fighters."Шаблон:Sfnp He suffered burns.Шаблон:Sfnp He was sent to Dulag Luft, then immediately sent to Hohemark for treatment for burns.Шаблон:Sfnp
Presumed KIA
At first, it was thought that all the crew had died as a result of their Wellington being shot down. After two weeks without news, the International Red Cross sent a message to his wife, Mary Lagan Bruce, that her husband was alive. In recordings, now lodged in the Oral History Sound Archive of the British Library, she tells how that she had been utterly convinced that he was alive, despite all the evidence to the contrary.Шаблон:Sfnp
Spangenberg Castle
Файл:FATHER ID DISK.jpgThe perforated German Government copper identity tag issued to Bruce at Spangenberg (on his death it would have been broken in half); and the compass he used after escaping from Colditz to find his way through Germany to freedom.
Upon arrival, Bruce was also awaiting trial after being involved with an altercation with an overzealous guard in Dulag Luft.Шаблон:Sfnp Inside the castle, he would be joined by the injured No. 9 Squadron air gunner Thomas Albert Bax.Шаблон:SfnpШаблон:Sfnp His other surviving No. 9 Squadron comrades were sent to other POW camps.Шаблон:Sfnp
Inside the castle, Bruce would meet persistent want-to-be escapees like Eric Foster,Шаблон:Sfnp Joe Barker,Шаблон:Sfnp Eustace Newborn and Pete Tunstall. Tunstall once stated about the Schloss, "the castle had earned a reputation as escape-proof of all German POW centres of the Second World War."Шаблон:Sfnp Tunstall also explained that the dry moat in the castle had been available to POWs as an exercise yard, but after a couple of escape attempts, this privilege had been withdrawn and that to discourage the slightest thought of escaping, the guards had even placed savage wild boars with sharp tusks to live inside the moat.Шаблон:Sfnp
It has been argued that Bruce and Tunstall are the original innovators of the wooden horse escape technique.
Along with Eustace Newborn and Peter Tunstall, Bruce came up with the escape plan now known as "the Swiss Red Cross Commission." Tunstall, also highlights that in 1941, prior to he and Bruce planning an escape with the famed 'Swiss Red Cross Commission,' he and Bruce had been digging an escape route with a wooden horse tunnel from inside the gymnasium, the wooden horse was placed roughly four feet from the wall that separated the gym from the moat.Шаблон:Sfnp The digging was a very slow process, it required the removal of spoil, bricks and stone work,Шаблон:Sfnp and was aided by other prisoners distracting the guards.Шаблон:Sfnp They were later joined by Douglas 'Sammy' Hoare and a syndicate who were promised a second go if they escaped undiscovered.Шаблон:Sfnp Other members of this syndicate were also named as: Harry Bewlay, John Milner and Eustace Newborn.Шаблон:Sfnp
When Bruce and Tunstall noted the slow process, they began examining the rest of the castle and left the digging to the other team involving Sammy Hoare.Шаблон:Sfnp The tunnel almost reached completion but unfortunately the digging team got caught when a guard become suspicious at the large stones that were accumulating outside of the gym. The guard then called a search, and then found the escape tunnel.Шаблон:Sfnp When the guards found the shaft they called an Appell and Hauptmann Schmidt confidently stated to the prisoners, "It is impossible to escape by tunnel or any other way."Шаблон:Sfnp
This wooden horse gym escape tunnel was two years prior to the famed Sagan wooden horse escape. Tunstall stated that he would like to think some of the watchers and workers who helped on their original wooden horse escape may have mentioned it from time to time;Шаблон:Sfnp and would like to think that their idea contributed to the success of the effort at Sagan.Шаблон:Sfnp
The 'Swiss Red Cross Commission' has been described as the most audacious escape of World War II. Bruce's MC citation described it as a very clever escape. In late July and early August 1941, Bruce, Newborn and Tunstall took an interest in the architecture of the building and broke into a flat in the Schloss belonging to a forestry principal. Inside the flat the trio obtained escape material such as disguises, maps and a compass. After sourcing the escape resources, they carefully crafted an escape that involved the gate security of the castle, with the eventual aim being after escaping the castle, to break into Kassel airfield and then fly to Basle on a stolen aircraft. After carefully planning and waiting many weeks for the conditions to be just right, on 3 September 1941,Шаблон:Sfnp the trio brazenly walked across the moat bridge. The three POWs simply walked out of the camp posing as a German officer (Tunstall) and two doctors (Bruce and Newborn) of a Swiss Red Cross inspection team. Upon reaching the bottom of the hill outside the castle's grounds, they quickly removed their Swiss Commission disguises and then made their way to Kassel, a strong Nazi military centre, dressed as Luftwaffe airmen, aiming to steal a plane.
Eventually, after a turn of unfortunate events, they were forced to change their plans and the three decided to march onwards towards the Belgium border. After ten days on the run, they were recaptured by an off-duty guard. Following their capture, Bruce, Newborn and Tunstall were interrogated by the Gestapo and sentenced to 53 days in solitude. The escape and the fact that Bruce defied his solitary confinement would put Bruce in serious legal peril with the German military authorities.
Шаблон:Main
Solitary confinement
After being recaptured following the Swiss Red Cross Commission escape, they were then sent back to Spangenberg.Шаблон:Sfnp Hauptmann Schmidt was incensed at the audacity of the escape.Шаблон:Sfnp The three were each held to a long period in solitary confinement.Шаблон:Sfnp Bruce received 53 days in solitude for the Spangenberg Castle escape, which was longer than the Geneva convention suggested.Шаблон:Sfnp In Spangenberg, they were not sentenced for their escape but held in preventative arrest.Шаблон:Sfnp The Senior British Officer also complained that according to the Geneva convention guidelines, the exercise yard in Spangenberg was too small, and they needed to be moved to another camp.Шаблон:Sfnp
In solitary confinement, Bruce, Newborn and Tunstall were placed in three separate cells in front of, and high above, the moat they had previously escaped from.Шаблон:Sfnp The approach by C company to Bruce, Newborn and Tunstall was different to A and B company. When compared to C company, A and B company treat Bruce, Newborn and Tunstall with good humour.Шаблон:Sfnp To the amusement of Bruce, Newborn, and Tunstall, in the remaining cell, Blockhead was also doing his time in confinement for letting the fake inspection team through the gate.Шаблон:Sfnp Whilst they were held in confinement, they even managed to defy solitude after Bruce picked the lock on his, Newborn's and Tunstall's cell doorsШаблон:Sfnp in order that they might join him in his cell to play poker with a set of home made cards a previous occupant had left behind.Шаблон:Sfnp When caught out by the guard who had noted that there was three to a cell, Tunstall claimed, Bruce, Newborn and himself smiled and nodded at the puzzled and curious guard as if they were innocent, this was harmless, and as if the guard was a juvenile who had just completed a simple comprehension test.Шаблон:Sfnp The guard upon realising they had the nerve to break the solitary punishment, then blew his top.Шаблон:Sfnp For the breaking of the solitude, Bruce was eventually court-martialled on the serious military charge of breaking free from arrest, the other two eventually got 5 extra days solitude. Tunstall explained he thought Bruce eventually got away with it by Bruce explaining escaping was not a court-martial offence for a POW, according to the Geneva Convention.Шаблон:Sfnp Inside of solitary, Tunstall claims, early on, there were rumours of Bruce, Tunstall and Newborn being shot.Шаблон:Sfnp After nearly eight weeks, the whole camp was made to move; Bruce, Tunstall and Newborn were rumoured to be, and expected to be, sent straight to the Colditz Straflager (punishment camp), instead, they were sent to Warburg.Шаблон:Sfnp This immediate move was a hindrance to Bruce and Tunstall as they had been formulating two more escape plans.Шаблон:Sfnp Tunstall mentions that on the journey to Warburg there was a flurry of train jumpers.Шаблон:Sfnp
Warburg prisoner of war camp
After his Spangenberg Castle escape, Bruce was eventually sent to Oflag VI-B, then in the village of Dössel (now in Warburg).Шаблон:Sfnp The Warburg camp has been described as soulless, bleak and unfinished. It housed roughly 3,000 prisoners.Шаблон:Sfnp The winter in Europe, whilst Bruce was held in Dössel, would be the coldest of the 20th century.Шаблон:Sfnp
Upon arrival Bruce and Tunstall immediately cased the joint and formulated escape plans.Шаблон:Sfnp They noticed the secondary gate was used occasionally to march out guarded working parties of orderlies and that the security here was lax, when compared to Spangenberg.Шаблон:Sfnp Bruce and Tunstall then concocted their first plan, involving walking out of the camp dressed as guards. Bruce and Tunstall then registered their new plan of escape with the Warburg escape committee. They then began working on German Army uniforms to walk out through the lax security.Шаблон:Sfnp They soon faced two problems: the first was that they were immediately put back into solitary, the next was that the escape committee changed the plan.
Their previous preventative arrest in Spangenberg amounted to almost two months, and despite the fact they had been promised that their arrest time in Spangenberg would count against any sentence in Warburg, a Major named Rademacher announced to Bruce, Tunstall and Newborn that they each would be serving 28 days in solitary.Шаблон:Sfnp This was the first immediate blow to Bruce's and Tunstall's first escape plan. The second blow occurred when the escape committee decided to adjust the plan as they wanted it to accommodate more prisoners.Шаблон:Sfnp The committee's new plan was to use the uniforms and the forged papers and then march out a big, bogus, working party.Шаблон:Sfnp Bruce and Tunstall were to be orderlies in the plan and the uniforms were to be worn by two fluent German speakers. One of the guards was called Peter Stevens MC who was a fluent German speaker; and the other guard of the orderlies was called Lance Pope who also spoke good German.Шаблон:Sfnp Tunstall explains how he and Bruce accepted the change selflessly but were worried that the changes were too ambitious and would complicate things.Шаблон:Sfnp Still, the escape committee worked on the uniforms, dummy rifles and the documents which were forged by John Mansel, whom Tunstall described as being the master forger of WW2.Шаблон:Sfnp
The first two times the worker party escape was tried, it was held back at the gates due to faults in the documentation. In January 1942,Шаблон:Sfnp the third time they attempted the bogus worker party, they forged the signature of the guard Feldwebel Braun.Шаблон:Sfnp This opened the gate. Though this escape was immediately hindered by the guardsman noticing, Feldwebel Braun could not have signed the papers as he was on compassionate leave.Шаблон:Sfnp The guards then started firing, and the bogus workers party dispersed.Шаблон:Sfnp According to Tunstall, not one of the escape party was caught and the German uniforms, the dummy rifles and forged papers where quickly stowed away in the hides at emergency speed.Шаблон:Sfnp The German search party did however find a piece of green cloth which was used to make the German uniform, on the camp's belongings. Bruce and Tunstall were blamed for this by Major Rademacher.Шаблон:Sfnp For this action Bruce received more time in solitary confinement.Шаблон:Sfnp
Escaping from solitary confinement
Bruce and Tunstall were sent to solitary confinement for the attempted escape with a workers party and were each given three months. They felt persecuted by Rademacher as they perceived the Major was always putting them into confinement for baseless reasons.
Whilst in solitary confinement, they still concocted more escape plans.Шаблон:Sfnp During this specific stretch of confinement, they worked out one more plan, and this set-up involved an actual escape from inside the solitary confinement block.Шаблон:Sfnp They wanted to break out of the camp and follow a previous route to France which was attempted by a former prisoner who had jumped on a goods train in Dössel and had evaded capture for five days. They also noted the cell block was made of a heavy timber, and that to escape from the camp with this type of timber required adequate tools.Шаблон:Sfnp With this in mind, they then handmade a selection of tools and wrapped them up. Bruce eventually hid the tools in the wood shavings in his mattress.Шаблон:Sfnp
Knowing the tools were now safe, they could pick their moment. On the morning of their planned escape, they noticed more snow had fallen. They observed that this was not escaping weather and they had no option but to wait for better weather.Шаблон:Sfnp Sadly for Bruce and Tunstall, this wait was prolonged and, whilst waiting for the weather conditions to improve, Bruce and Tunstall were ordered to pack their belongings... and they were then sent to Colditz.Шаблон:Sfnp
A year later, inside Colditz, former Warburg prisoner Douglas Bader, explained the escape tools they left inside Warburg had been successfully used by another prisoner.Шаблон:Sfnp
Bruce arrived in Colditz Castle, known as officer prisoner-of-war camp Oflag IV-C, on 16 March 1942. Colditz was near Leipzig in the State of Saxony.Шаблон:Sfnp It was intended to contain Allied officers who had escaped many times from other prisoner-of-war camps and were deemed incorrigible.Шаблон:Sfnp It was the only POW camp with more guards than prisoners. The Nazis regarded it as the most escape proof prison in Germany.Шаблон:Sfnp Colditz, because of the escapee prisoners it housed, eventually become thought of as an international escape academy.Шаблон:Sfnp Heavily guarded Colditz, still managed more home runs than anywhere else.Шаблон:Sfnp
On the train journey to Colditz, they had been escorted to Colditz by three privates and one NCO.Шаблон:Sfnp These guards were in turn briefed about Bruce's and Tunstall's propensity for escaping; the guards were under a threat of severe retribution if they ever escaped.Шаблон:Sfnp The guards called Colditz Sonderlager (Special Camp) and the prisoners called Colditz Straflager (Punishment Camp).Шаблон:Sfnp When Bruce arrived at Colditz late at night and, for the first time, entered the deserted, flood lit exercise yard, on his way to the upper cells,Шаблон:Sfnp Tunstall recollects that Bruce's first words were, "We'll get out of this bloody place too." To which Tunstall recalls he replied, "You bet."Шаблон:Sfnp
Upon arrival Bruce was given the prisoner number 1356.Шаблон:Sfnp After recapture from his Spangenberg and Warburg escapes, Bruce, now in Colditz, was put in a cell whilst waiting for trial. Bruce was facing a court-martial.Шаблон:Sfnp He was charged with breaking and entering for picking a lock in a walled off part of the Spangenberg Castle; and theft of the uniform he found in the walled off room inside Spangenberg Castle; the documents also show, he was put into solitary confinement in Spangenberg Castle, and allege, Bruce kicked the cell door down whilst in his cell. The alleged action of kicking the cell door down, added a very serious charge of sabotage of state property.Шаблон:Sfnp Tunstall description of the events, differs to Bruce's charge sheet, it highlighted that no state property was broken and Bruce, Newborn and Tunstall were defying solitude after Bruce picked the locks in their solitary confinement.Шаблон:Sfnp In WWII it was generally accepted that the main rules of escaping were: don't wear German uniform; don't use violence; and don't engage in espionage or sabotage. It was perceived that breaking these rules could result in the prisoner facing a court-martial, and even death.Шаблон:Sfnp Bruce was clearly in trouble with regards to his charge sheet in that he had stolen a German uniform and had been charged with an alleged sabotage of state property. The sabotage of state property being a very serious charge.Шаблон:Sfnp
To defend himself, Bruce choose a fellow Colditz prisoner, Lieutenant Alan Campbell, a trained lawyer, to advocate for him. Campbell (subsequently Baron Campbell of Alloway ERD QC (24 May 1917 – 30 June 2013)) argued that, according to King's Regulations, Bruce had a duty to escape; and using a precedent, cited a case of a German fighter pilot called Franz von Werra who had escaped, von Werra who was famed for getting the German High Command to change its policy with regards to POW's; and highlighted the fact that Bruce had never used violence. After the trial, Bruce received a moderate sentence of three months in solitary.Шаблон:Sfnp Alan Campbell's case notes, which also include 41 other cases, are now held in the archives of the Imperial War Museum.Шаблон:Sfnp
Bruce was the author of the famed "Tea Chest Escape" which was featured in the Imperial War Museum's 'Great Escapes' exhibition in 2004,Шаблон:Sfnp where the museum built a facsimile of the tea chest and invited children to see if they could 'escape from Colditz'.
Файл:MARY LAGAN BRUCE 1941.jpgA photo of Bruce's wife, Mary Lagan Bruce, sent to Bruce after his Zeebrugge capture in 1941. Bruce's wife also sent Bruce the silk escaping map which he used to travel to Danzig.
He made use of a silk map.Шаблон:Sfnp The silk escaping map Bruce used in the escape to guide him to Danzig (now Gdansk) which was sent to him by his wife concealed in a brass button of a uniform, at the behest of MI9, can be seen in the IX Squadron archive museum at RAF Marham,Шаблон:Sfnp donated to the Squadron in a handover ceremony by the Bruce family. Because of his very small stature, Bruce was known ironically as the "medium-sized man"Шаблон:SfnpШаблон:Sfnp (see camaraderie with messmates section for the origin). When a new Commandant arrived at Colditz in the summer of 1942, he enforced rules restricting prisoners' personal belongings.
On 8 September 1942, POWs were told to pack up all their excess belongings and an assortment of boxes were delivered to carry them into store. Bruce immediately seized his chance and was packed inside a Red Cross packing case, three-foot square, with just a file and a Шаблон:Convert length of rope made from bed sheets. Bruce was taken to a storeroom on the third floor of the German Kommandantur and that night, made his escape.Шаблон:Sfnp
The next morning the castle was visited by General Wolff, officer in charge of POW army district 4.Шаблон:Sfnp He inspected the camp and found everything to his satisfaction.Шаблон:Sfnp Fortunately for the camp commandant, as Wolff was driven away, his back was turned to the southern face of the castle. If he had turned his head, he would have seen a length of blue and white checked (bedsack) rope dangling from a remote window.Шаблон:Sfnp It was, however, eventually noticed by a hausfrau (housewife) in the town, who quickly reported it to the duty officer.Шаблон:Sfnp[1] The guard Georg Martin Schädlich documented how they were suddenly alerted to a rope at 11:30am from one of the attic windows.Шаблон:Sfnp When the German guards entered the storeroom, they found the empty box on which Bruce had, in yet another of his pranks, inscribed in chalk:Шаблон:Cquote Translated this means: "The air in Colditz no longer agrees with me. See you later!"Шаблон:Sfnp Pat Reid explained it was almost tempting providence of Bruce to write Auf Wiedersehen on the box instead of writing good bye.Шаблон:Sfnp
In his notes, the guard Schädlich then describes that because of this rope they instantly brought forward an Appell. With the purpose of this Appell being to find out who had escaped.Шаблон:SfnpSchädlich described how they had to find Bruce's name from the card index; and how they were duped two times at roll call,Шаблон:Sfnp thus giving Bruce extra time to travel without a search squad looking for him. He suspected this duping could only have happened because a Frenchman from room 311 had used a false key and slipped into the English sick bay. Whereby this Frenchman then got counted twice, once at the British roll call and once at French roll call.Шаблон:Sfnp The guard Schädlich also noted Bruce got through the tannery and had an easy escape route as the church square was only five minutes away from this point.Шаблон:Sfnp
Bruce travelled 400 miles to Danzig; the furthest distance he ever made in all his escapes.Шаблон:Sfnp To get to Danzig, he slept rough,Шаблон:Sfnp and he travelled by bicycles which he stole from outside village churches during Mass. Whilst travelling to Danzig, Bruce was temporarily recaptured in Frankfurt-on-Oder, but escaped prior to interrogation.Шаблон:Sfnp In Danzig, one week later, he was eventually caught trying to stow away on a Swedish Freighter.Шаблон:Sfnp When he returned to Colditz, Bruce received more time in solitary.Шаблон:Sfnp
He is thought to be the inventor of the 'triple identity' ploy for use when captured, which he explains in the Imperial War Museum Sound Archive tapes.Шаблон:SfnpШаблон:SfnpШаблон:Refn The triple identity meant that he had three personae; his real identity as himself, the identity shown on his false ID papers; and another identity that he would only reveal under pressure. When he was captured, he was disguised as a Belgian Gastarbeiter or 'guest worker' named Josef Savon (his false ID is still in the possession of the Bruce family) another example of Bruce's fondness of disguises. The use of the Josef Savon disguise is also another example of Bruce's predilection for pranks, as Josef Savon translates into 'Joe Soap'. In 1944, Joe Soap was RAF slang for a legendary airman who carried the can.Шаблон:Refn
When captured, he pretended to break down and admitted he was in fact Flight Sergeant Joseph Lagan. Lagan was his brother-in-law and so Bruce could answer detailed questions about his service record etc. Initially, the delighted Germans believed him and were ready to send him to a Stalag or 'other ranks' camp.Шаблон:SfnpШаблон:Sfnp Under the Geneva Convention, other ranks (unlike officers) could be made to work; and were often taken outside camps on working parties; from which it was easy to escape. His story when captured was that he had jumped from a British plane over Bremen and arrived in Danzig on a stolen bicycle;Шаблон:Sfnp his bicycle, unbeknown to Bruce, had a local number on it.Шаблон:Sfnp Bruce was then sent to the RAF camp at Dulag Luft near Oberursel.Шаблон:Sfnp Whilst at the camp, the Germans had already requested a specialist Gestapo interrogator to come from Berlin, who was to recognise Bruce.Шаблон:SfnpШаблон:SfnpШаблон:Sfnp When he arrived he took one look at the supposed Flight Sergeant Lagan and said "Ah, Captain Bruce, how nice to see you again". This was the second time he had interrogated Bruce (whom the Germans habitually addressed as 'Captain'). Under heavy guard, Bruce was taken by train back to Colditz. On the overheated train, the guard detail fell asleep, and Bruce tried to escape once again but was prevented by a watchful officer.Шаблон:SfnpШаблон:Sfnp
The 'Tea Chest Escape' made Bruce the first prisoner to escape from both Spangenberg Castle and Colditz Castle. He was soon to be joined by Howard 'Hank' Wardle MCШаблон:Sfnp who would soon escape from Colditz with Captain Pat Reid, Major Ronald B. Littledale, and Lieutenant Commander L. W. Stephens. Wardle had also escaped from Spangenberg Castle.Шаблон:SfnpШаблон:Refn This escape by Wardle, Reid, Littledale and Stephens was aided by reconnaissance from Bruce. Pat Reid explained that whilst Bruce was in solitude, he got a message smuggled to Bruce, via his food. Reid wanted Bruce to give him some detail about the German Kommandantur of the castle.Шаблон:Sfnp In due course Reid received a return message from Bruce.Шаблон:Sfnp This message gave him information about the specific unused staircase, the top floors, and importantly, how the door to this staircase was in full view of the Kommandantur sentries, and how this door was put into shadow by the flood lights.Шаблон:Sfnp On 14 October 1942, in the Kommandantur cellar escape, they all used Bruce's information and tried to get the staircase door open with a dummy key. Unfortunately, the dummy key failed. This worked out though; as with their contingency plan, using the shadow, they slowly worked their way to the Kommandantur cellar to which they were to escape from.Шаблон:Sfnp
Musketoon witness
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In October 1942, seven captured commandos were processed inside Colditz and sent to solitary confinement. These commandos had previously been involved in the Operation Musketoon raid. Inside the cells Peter Storie-Pugh, Dick Howe and Bruce had managed to have conversations with them.Шаблон:Sfnp
On 13 October 1942, the commandos were removed from Colditz and taken to the SS-Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RHSA) headquarters in Berlin, where they were interrogated one by one by ObergruppenführerHeinrich Müller.Шаблон:Sfnp They remained in Berlin until 22 October, when they were taken to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. On the next day, 23 October, they were all shot in the back of the neck and their bodies cremated.Шаблон:Sfnp These commandos were the first to fall victim to Adolf Hitler's Kommandobefehl (Commando Order) issued on 18 October 1942, which called for the execution of all commandos after capture.
In 1964, Stephen Schofield interviewed Bruce for his book 'Musketoon: commando raid, Glomfjord, 1942' (University of Michigan), revealing that while in the solitary confinement cells, Bruce managed to make contact with Captain Black DSO, leader of Operation Musketoon, the Anglo-Norwegian commando raid mounted against the German-held Glomfjord power plant in Norway. Bruce was the last British person to speak to Black before he (and six comrades) was murdered in Sachsenhausen concentration camp.Шаблон:Sfnp The official German story given to the Red Cross was that the seven men had escaped and not been recaptured, and Colditz Oflag IVC were instructed to return any letters to their senders marked Geflohen (escaped),Шаблон:Sfnp but Bruce's testimony was sent from Colditz to MI5 in London and ensured that the British authorities knew the truth.Шаблон:Sfnp
By 1944, escaping was becoming tougher and riskier. Walter Morison explained that by August 1943, most of the loopholes to escape in the castle had been exploited;Шаблон:Sfnp making escaping even harder. By spring 1944, escaping got riskier. Contrary to the Geneva convention, the use of force had been debated inside the German mess for years. Oberstleutnant Prawitt, the Kommandant, and Staff Paymaster Heinze were keen on using it on repeat offenders,Шаблон:Sfnp such as Bruce. So was Major Amthor, the new second in command, who had joined the mess in May 1943. Amthor was a young keen Nazi and had constantly tried to argue for the use of rough measures.Шаблон:Sfnp Amthor and Prawitt were so hated by the prisoners that whenever they entered the courtyard, they were whistled and howled at.Шаблон:Sfnp Püpke was not a Nazi and was even given a courteous reception during Appell in the summer of 1944.Шаблон:Sfnp In late March 1944, Hitler had disregarded the Geneva Convention with regards to POWs. The punishment for escape now carried a risk of execution.Шаблон:Refn Bruce made two further escape attempts in 1944: on 19 April and on 16 June.
On his 19 April escape, he cut through bars on the north side of the castle and reached the wire fence before being detected.Шаблон:Sfnp After Bruce was seen by the sentries, he was fired at by rifles and machine guns.Шаблон:Sfnp Knowing he did not stand a chance, Bruce surrendered. When surrendering, Bruce, to the amusement of the German guards, instead of yelling, "Ich gebe auf" ("I give up"), in a faux pas yelled, "Ich ueber gebe mich" ("I feel sick.").Шаблон:Sfnp
On 16 June escape, Bruce, Major R. Lorraine and John "Bosun" Chrisp tunnelled through sewers into an old well in the German yard that had a pipe that lead into the river, but were again detected.Шаблон:Sfnp The sewage escape route that lead to the manhole covered well, was found via the help of earlier tunnelling and reconnaissance by the Poles, along with the help of Jack Best (also of the Colditz Cock fame) and Mike Harvey.Шаблон:Sfnp Best and Harvey had frequented with the Poles in their time as ghost prisoners and had participated in their tunnel digging.Шаблон:Sfnp Best hated the tunnel in his days as a ghost prisoner, claiming your arse always got wet with cold waste water.Шаблон:Sfnp Though Best noted the Poles were very proud of their dangerous tunnel.Шаблон:Sfnp One prisoner claimed the tunnel even had a 'terrifying' electrical cable that ran inside the damp conditions.Шаблон:Sfnp When the Poles left the castle, the tunnel was bought by a party involving Douglas Bader, for 100 cigarettes.Шаблон:Sfnp Sometime after 1941, the Poles had dug a key hole through a rock that itself led onto the main sewer system. In 1944, Bruce, Chrisp and Lorraine, surveyed the tunnel, whilst Dick Howe ensured the kitchen, showers and toilets were off limits to other POW's.Шаблон:Sfnp When they entered that hole they found the main sewage system led to the well;Шаблон:Sfnp the well they were soon to be captured in.Шаблон:Sfnp They then returned to base, to have the castle's doctor brush them with iodine, and to collect some tools which would help them hammer spikes into the well wall.Шаблон:Sfnp
When they returned to the well, Lorraine, tied by a rope, was lowered to the bottom of the well, in what was low tide, and began hammering in the spikes.Шаблон:Sfnp There were three manhole covers around the German Kommandantur that were within 50 yards of each other.Шаблон:Sfnp At the archway halfway outside of the castle, a guard heard noises beneath his feet, whilst he was standing near one of the manhole covers.Шаблон:Sfnp Upon hearing the noise, the guard gave a shout to the riot squad and security officer; and an immediate order was made to open up the three manhole covers.Шаблон:Sfnp Staff Paymaster Heinze walked past one of the covers, spotted them and spat at them calling them "stinking swines."Шаблон:Sfnp Later, for this abuse, the Senior British Officer (SBO), obtained an apology.Шаблон:Sfnp A guard also threatened to shoot Bruce, Lorraine and Chrisp whilst they were in the uncovered drain.Шаблон:Sfnp The Germans then called an immediate Sonderappell. and after this Appell, an effort was made by the escape committee to save the hundred yard tunnel from inside the ex-Polish long-room, unluckily, for the escape committee, the Appell had given the Germans enough time to uncover the rest of the shaft.Шаблон:Sfnp
Facing a firing squad
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When Bruce, Lorraine and Chrisp were caught, according to Chrisp, Bruce became spokesman for the three in the interrogation.Шаблон:Sfnp As spokesman he declined to answer to Eggers, on three separate times, as to where the entrance to their escape tunnel was. For this the three men where placed in front of the Saalhouse wall to stop them signalling to their comradesШаблон:Sfnp and faced by a firing squad; though Eggers did not give an order to fire.Шаблон:SfnpШаблон:Sfnp Shortly after this, Eggers claimed he sent a guard down the gulley to find the shaft, and found that this shaft could only have led to long room 155, whereby inside this room they caught three more comrades securing the tools and closing off the shaft; Eggers wrote he also arrested them.Шаблон:Sfnp According to Eggers the escape drew some light on other escapes also being constructed.Шаблон:Sfnp Chrisp explained, in his IWM tapes, the three were then put in the civilian cells outside the castle for two or three weeks.Шаблон:Sfnp Whilst they were inside the cells, on 19 June 1944, unknowingly to the Bruce, Chrisp and Lorraine, a notice went up on the notice board. It explained to the prisoners that the Komandment wanted a group of four construction workers to fix the damage done to the drains. It also explained that Major Lorraine, Captain Baxter, Flight Lieutenant Bruce, Lt Barnet, Lt Cocksedge and Bosun Chrisp were to be billed for the damage.Шаблон:Sfnp Chrisp explained that after their solitary confinement, the Senior British Officer informed them that the Komandment had fined them £100 each for damaging the drains.Шаблон:Sfnp Bruce, upon hearing the fine, made a counter claim, and he billed the Kommandant for £200 each for their service of cleaning the drains that had not been cleaned for 300 years.Шаблон:Sfnp With regards to billing the Kommandant, Chrisp explained it wasn't just Bruce behaving like this; and that in the castle, this type of behaviour went on all the time – it never stopped.Шаблон:Sfnp
Last days in the castle
Файл:Colditz cards .jpgPostcards sent by Bruce to his sons, Michael and Dominic, from Colditz at Christmas 1944. He was to see them and their mother in person only four months later, after four years of absence.
The Germans were getting tired of the prisoner escapes, and in the summer of 1944, each POW camp was given a flyer reinforcing the fact the Germans were taking escaping very seriously. The notice referenced that breaking out was no longer a sport, and that prisoners would be shot if they attempted to escape.Шаблон:Sfnp The notice was up inside the Colditz prisoner yard by 8 August 1944.Шаблон:Sfnp Eventually, orders came (via MI9 and the Senior British Officer) that all escapes were ill-advised, and that escaping would be even more perilous in a country losing the war, and where public order and military discipline would be falling apart.Шаблон:Sfnp Bruce and his comrades had decided to sit out the war until the liberation came in April 1945, and camp morale was hit as a result.Шаблон:Sfnp Bruce and his comrades would also learn, to their horror, of the 50 prisoners from Stalag Luft III, getting shot for escaping.Шаблон:Sfnp During this time Bruce and his comrades would also be updated by the events in the war by a secret radio,Шаблон:Sfnp and as the war progressed morale would be lifted again when they found out the allies where only 150 or so miles away to the west.Шаблон:Sfnp He and his comrades would have also found Red Cross supplies were running short and hunger would mount.Шаблон:Sfnp On 14 April 1945, he would have heard and witnessed gun fire and he would also come to realise that Willie Tod, and the French and American senior officers negotiated the keys to the Schloss after tense negotiations.Шаблон:Sfnp He would also have learned just how close they were, on Hitler's orders, to being marched out of the castle towards the east.Шаблон:Sfnp
Liberated from Colditz
Файл:FATHER PISTOL GUN.jpgThe ČZ vz. 27 semi-automatic pistol, used by Bruce in a failed attempt to liberate a chicken from Hitler's tyranny
Bruce was eventually liberated on 16 April 1945 by the US Army.Шаблон:Sfnp In the hours prior to the liberation, Bruce witnessed the castle being shelled,Шаблон:Sfnp and noted his comrade Bader getting knocked out of his false legs when Bader's window was hit with a shell.Шаблон:Sfnp Prior to liberation, he also witnessed the POWs hanging French and British flags, and a flag with POW on it being hung.Шаблон:Sfnp In a 1973 interview, Bruce described the day of liberation as pure wild west: getting guns, going off to liberate chickens and wine, and having a great time.Шаблон:Sfnp
In the IWM tapes, Bruce describes the scene. The first GI through the castle gates heard a voice from a second-floor window. "Take that man's sidearm" the voice ordered. The GI duly disarmed a German guard, taking his ČZ vz. 27 pistol and holster. "Tie it onto this piece of string" the voice said. The GI complied. The pistol (which is still in the possession of the Bruce family) was hauled up the castle wall and disappeared into the window. Bruce (who, like the other prisoners and Germans alike, had been at near starvation levels during the last months of the war) went directly to the castle kitchens and put the gun to the head of a German cook and demanded a chicken. Sadly, there were none to be had.Шаблон:SfnpШаблон:Sfnp
Travelling home, Bruce and his comrades were loaded on to a lorry, taken to a Luftwaffe airfield and flown by a Dakota to Liege, then to Brussels and then onto Westcott in Oxfordshire, England.Шаблон:Sfnp He and his RAF comrades travelled by train to Cosforth for debriefing and a meal of bacon and eggs,Шаблон:Sfnp prior to travelling to Victoria railway station in London to meet the two small boys (and the wife) he had not seen since 1941.Шаблон:SfnpШаблон:Sfnp
In October 1946, he was awarded the Military Cross (MC) for his escape attempts,Шаблон:SfnpШаблон:Sfnp making him the only person ever to be awarded both the Military Cross and the Air Force Medal.Шаблон:SfnpШаблон:Refn The citation for his award reads:
After the war, Bruce and his wife Mary, bought Blakesley Lodge in Green Street, Sunbury-on-Thames in Surrey.Шаблон:Sfnp They brought up nine children, six boys and three girls.Шаблон:Sfnp
One of his sons, Brendan,Шаблон:Sfnp is a communications executive, and a former Director of Communications to Prime Minister Thatcher. The Bruce family report that his nickname amongst the family (which was given to him by his Italian son-in-law, Piero Carloni), was 'Il Cavaliere' ('the knight') due to his Papal knighthood.
Bruce served as an Adult Education Tutor at Bristol University, 1949–50. He was Assistant Secretary of the University Committee, Adult Education HM Forces, 1950–53; Further Education Officer, Surrey County Council, 1953–59; Principal, Richmond Technical Institute, 1959–62. Bruce became the Founding Principal of Kingston College of Further Education, 1962–1980.Шаблон:Sfnp
There was significant interest at the time for this important new position and the short list consisted of Bruce, a distinguished Royal Navy Captain and an Army Brigadier (i.e. a 'one star' general). Bruce's quick wit was responsible for his appointment. When he entered the interview room, the Chairman of the Panel was reading his CV and looked up at him in astonishment saying "it says here that you have nine children. Are they all yours?" (thinking that some were perhaps stepchildren). "So my wife assures me" came Bruce's imperturbable reply.
Файл:PARENTS GRAVE.jpgThe grave of Dominic Bruce OBE MC AFM KSG MA RAF and his wife of 62 years Mary Lagan Bruce
Dominic Bruce died on 12 February 2000 in Richmond, Surrey, England. He was survived by Mary Brigid Bruce (died 15 June 2000) and his six sons and three daughters.Шаблон:Sfnp
In 2015, his medal group (unique in that he is the only person in British military history to be awarded both the Military Cross and the Air Force Medal) was donated by his family to the Ashcroft Trust for the benefit of the RAF Benevolent Fund and the British Red Cross, the latter having kept him alive in Colditz by the sending of regular food parcels.
Bruce Drive in Hebburn is named after him.
Filmography, sound and literature
Bruce and many of his comrades in Colditz have featured prominently in books, TV, film and documentaries.Шаблон:Sfnp Bruce has advised on historical books on the subject of Colditz. Bruce was one of the numerous veterans of Colditz who advised on Michael Booker's book Collecting Colditz and Its Secrets.Шаблон:Sfnp His expertise on Colditz was also used by Pat Reid, who included Bruce in his monthly committee of six, who advised Reid on his book Colditz: The Full Story.Шаблон:Sfnp
In his autobiographical book, The Tunnellers of Sandborstal (Robert Hale, 1959), Lieutenant Commander John 'Bosun' Chrisp MBE RN said that "Bruce's adventures in various corners of occupied Europe read like John Buchan (author of The Thirty Nine Steps) at his most melodramatic" and that Bruce "can claim to be the most ingenious and unlucky escaper of the war."Шаблон:Sfnp
Eric Foster's autobiography, Life Hangs by a Silken Thread is an eyewitness source for the Swiss Red Cross Commission escapeШаблон:Sfnp at Spangenberg Castle.
Portrayals in film and television
In the BBC TV series Colditz (1972–74), which chronicled the lives of the Allied prisoners of war held in the castle, one of the characters portrayed was Flight Lieutenant Simon Carter (played by David McCallum), a young, upstart, hot-headed RAF officer who enjoys goon-baiting and is very impatient to escape. The fictional Carter closely resembles Bruce.[2] In the episode, from series one, 'Gone Away, part 1', first shown 18 January 1973, the 'Tea Chest Escape' was re-enacted.Шаблон:Sfnp
Colditz, a 2005 British two-part television miniseries produced by Granada Television for ITV, written by Peter Morgan and directed by Stuart Orme, features a fictionalised account of an actual event when three inmates; Dick Lorraine, John 'Bosun' Chrisp, and the 'Medium Sized Man', Dominic Bruce attempted to escape using the castle sewers. In reality the escape team were discovered when they attempted to exit a manhole. The Germans threatened to throw grenades down into the sewer chamber and, as the escapers could not reverse back up the sewer pipe, they were forced to surrender. They were immediately put in front of a firing squad, but unlike the fictional TV account, the guards did not fire. As he explained in the IWM tapes, just before the order was to be given, Bruce lost his temper and approached the officer in charge, Eggers, saying "you can shoot us, but after the War we'll hang you". Eggers stood the squad down.[3]
The 'Red Cross Commission' escape from Spangenberg provided the plot for the 1961 film, Very Important Person although no acknowledgement was made by the producers at the time. In the film, James Robertson Justice also escapes disguised as a Swiss civilian Commissioner, just as Bruce had done in real life.Шаблон:Refn
On the 70th Anniversary of the liberation of Colditz, the BBC programme 'The One Show' featured photographs of the 'Tea Chest' escape which were discussed by the participants.Шаблон:Sfnp
The BBC series Colditz (1972–74), was such a success that it was quickly repeated. In order to make up the episodes to a sixty-minute slot (the BBC had hoped to sell the series to the US, hence the use of Robert Wagner, so they had to be only fifty minutes in length to include commercials) a select group of six Colditz escapers were interviewed individually by the famous war correspondent Frank Gillard and shown immediately after the repeat programmes were broadcast. Bruce was one of the interviewees. The documentary series was called Six from Colditz, and Bruce's interview was listed on 17 April 1973,Шаблон:Sfnp and also on 17 January 1974 in the Radio Times.Шаблон:SfnpШаблон:Refn Transcripts of Bruce's interview, with Gillard, which aired in 1973, exist.Шаблон:Sfnp
1993 "The Story of Colditz" (documentary)Шаблон:Sfnp
1992 On a Wing and a Prayer (documentary) – himself (as Flt. Lt. Dominic Bruce MC AFM KSG)Шаблон:Sfnp
1964 Meeting Point: Whisper Who dares! (TV Series documentary) – himself (interviewee)Шаблон:Sfnp
From 1996 to 2006, the Colditz Society created a selection of filmed interviews with many Colditz survivors. Bruce was recorded and is referenced in the collection. These interviews are now museum artefacts and are held in the Imperial War Museum.Шаблон:Sfnp
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