1. Dominic Bruce made seventeen attempts at escaping from POW camps, including several attempts to escape from Colditz Castle, a castle that housed prisoners of war "deemed incorrigible".
94 Facts About Dominic Bruce
1. 2.
Inside Colditz Castle, Dominic Bruce authored the Tea Chest Escape and faced a firing squad for an attempted escape via a sewer tunnel.
3.
Dominic Bruce has featured prominently in books, sound recordings, TV and film.
4.
Dominic Bruce was born on 7 June 1915, in Hebburn, County Durham, England.
5.
Dominic Bruce was the second of the four children of William and Mary Bruce.
6.
Mary Dominic 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'.
7.
Dominic Bruce's escaping adventures started early in his life when he ran away from home by means of a train to London.
8.
Dominic Bruce was quickly returned to Shakespeare Avenue in Hebburn.
9.
Dominic Bruce 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 Courts during school time.
10.
In November 1936, Dominic Bruce joined No 214 Squadron at Scampton.
11.
Dominic Bruce rushed to the other side of the hatch and jumped.
12.
Dominic Bruce was now suspended under the bomber and unable to escape further.
13.
Dominic Bruce was awarded the Air Force Medal on 8 June 1939.
14.
On 20 January 1941, Acting Flight Sergeant Dominic Bruce was granted a commission "for the duration of hostilities" as a probationary pilot officer, with seniority from 8 January.
15.
Dominic 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.
16.
Dominic Bruce 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.
17.
Dominic 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.
18.
Dominic 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.
19.
Rogers noted, the exit: Dominic Bruce shuffled out with the case, hat and gloves, hidden by the crowd.
20.
Dominic Bruce was known as 'Brucie' to friends, or simply 'Bruce.
21.
The sentry overcame his shock only to burst out laughing when Dominic Bruce shouted "I surrender" in an effort to prevent him shooting again.
22.
Tunstall explained Dominic Bruce was very meticulous, and gave plaudits to him by describing him as having the draw of a big personality.
23.
Alongside the likes of Sinclair, Dominic Bruce was on that list.
24.
Dominic 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.
25.
Rex was to carry a football under his arm, into which Dominic Bruce would put his head using a hole cut into the back of the football.
26.
Harrison would exit the castle to go the exercise park below the castle walls with Dominic Bruce clinging to his waist.
27.
Dominic Bruce talked to the officers about his tactics and strategy.
28.
Dominic Bruce gave out his well thought out advice to his seniors.
29.
On this raid, Dominic Bruce was part of another scratch crew.
30.
Dominic Bruce 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.
31.
Dominic Bruce was a member of the Goldfish Club for those who parachuted into water.
32.
Dominic Bruce was sent to Dulag Luft, then immediately sent to Hohemark for treatment for burns.
33.
Dominic Bruce's other surviving No 9 Squadron comrades were sent to other POW camps.
34.
Inside the castle, Dominic Bruce would meet persistent want-to-be escapees like Eric Foster, Joe Barker, Eustace Newborn and Pete Tunstall.
35.
In late July and early August 1941, Dominic 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.
36.
The escape and the fact that Dominic Bruce defied his solitary confinement would put Dominic Bruce in serious legal peril with the German military authorities.
37.
Dominic Bruce received 53 days in solitude for the Spangenberg Castle escape, which was longer than the Geneva convention suggested.
38.
In solitary confinement, Dominic Bruce, Newborn and Tunstall were placed in three separate cells in front of, and high above, the moat they had previously escaped from.
39.
The approach by C company to Dominic Bruce, Newborn and Tunstall was different to A and B company.
40.
When compared to C company, A and B company treat Dominic Bruce, Newborn and Tunstall with good humour.
41.
Whilst they were held in confinement, they even managed to defy solitude after Dominic Bruce picked the lock on his, Newborn's and Tunstall's cell doors 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.
42.
When caught out by the guard who had noted that there was three to a cell, Tunstall claimed, Dominic 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.
43.
Tunstall explained he thought Dominic Bruce eventually got away with it by Dominic Bruce explaining escaping was not a court-martial offence for a POW, according to the Geneva Convention.
44.
Inside of solitary, Tunstall claims, early on, there were rumours of Dominic Bruce, Tunstall and Newborn being shot.
45.
The winter in Europe, whilst Dominic Bruce was held in Dossel, would be the coldest of the 20th century.
46.
Tunstall explains how he and Dominic Bruce accepted the change selflessly but were worried that the changes were too ambitious and would complicate things.
47.
Dominic Bruce was a keen reader of prisoners case sheets.
48.
Dominic Bruce had needless prejudices for Bruce and the lags.
49.
The letter highlighted Dominic Bruce received more solitary confinement than usual; and more confinement was penciled in for a future date.
50.
Dominic Bruce eventually hid the tools in the wood shavings in his mattress.
51.
Dominic Bruce arrived in Colditz Castle, known as officer prisoner-of-war camp Oflag IV-C, on 16 March 1942.
52.
Dominic Bruce 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 show, he was put into solitary confinement in Spangenberg Castle, and allege, Bruce kicked the cell door down whilst in his cell.
53.
Dominic 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.
54.
Campbell argued that, according to King's Regulations, Dominic 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 Dominic Bruce had never used violence.
55.
On 21 April 1942, Dominic Bruce's commission was confirmed and he was promoted to the war substantive rank of flying officer.
56.
Dominic Bruce was the author of the famed "Tea Chest Escape" which was featured in the Imperial War Museum's 'Great Escapes' exhibition in 2004, where the museum built a facsimile of the tea chest and invited children to see if they could 'escape from Colditz'.
57.
The silk escaping map Dominic Bruce used in the escape to guide him to Danzig 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 Lossiemouth, donated to the Squadron in a handover ceremony by the Dominic Bruce family.
58.
Dominic Bruce immediately seized his chance and was packed inside a Red Cross packing case, three-foot square, with just a file and a 40-foot length of rope made from bed sheets.
59.
Dominic Bruce was taken to a storeroom on the third floor of the German Kommandantur and that night, made his escape.
60.
Dominic Bruce inspected the camp and found everything to his satisfaction.
61.
Dominic Bruce 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.
62.
The guard Schadlich noted Dominic Bruce got through the tannery and had an easy escape route as the church square was only five minutes away from this point.
63.
Dominic Bruce travelled 400 miles to Danzig; the furthest distance he ever made in all his escapes.
64.
Whilst travelling to Danzig, Dominic Bruce was temporarily recaptured in Frankfurt-on-Oder, but escaped prior to interrogation.
65.
When he returned to Colditz, Dominic Bruce received more time in solitary.
66.
Dominic Bruce 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.
67.
Dominic Bruce was then sent to the RAF camp at Dulag Luft near Oberursel.
68.
Under heavy guard, Dominic Bruce was taken by train back to Colditz.
69.
Pat Reid explained that whilst Dominic Bruce was in solitude, he got a message smuggled to Dominic Bruce, via his food.
70.
Reid wanted Dominic Bruce to give him some detail about the German Kommandantur of the castle.
71.
In reel 6 of the IWM tapes, Dominic Bruce relates that before Eggers -accompanied by two sinister Sicherheitsdienst officers, hustled him back to his cell, Dominic Bruce attempted to find out more about these mysterious British strangers, but Captain Black became very evasive.
72.
Dominic Bruce was the last British person to speak to Black before he was murdered in Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
73.
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, but Dominic Bruce's testimony was sent from Colditz to MI5 in London and ensured that the British authorities knew the truth.
74.
Dominic Bruce was promoted again, to flight lieutenant, on 20 January 1943.
75.
Dominic Bruce made two further escape attempts in 1944: on 19 April and on 16 June.
76.
Dominic Bruce was eventually liberated on 16 April 1945 by the US Army.
77.
Dominic Bruce went directly to the castle kitchens and put the gun to the head of a German cook and demanded a chicken.
78.
Flight Lieutenant Dominic Bruce was shot down over Zeebrugge in June, 1941, and picked up by a German vessel.
79.
Dominic Bruce was captured ten days later at Frankfurt-on-Oder, but escaped while awaiting interrogation.
80.
Dominic Bruce reached Danzig and was arrested trying to board a troop ship.
81.
Flight Lieutenant Dominic Bruce continued to try every possible means of escape, with varying degrees of success, throughout his captivity making about seventeen attempts in all.
82.
Reid and Dominic Bruce theorised that the RAF dropped the Dossel bomb after navigational error.
83.
Dominic Bruce believed in the dignified opportunities an education can bring.
84.
In 1946, Dominic Bruce became a student at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, reading modern history, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1949.
85.
Dominic Bruce completed what was known as War Degree and was awarded a Master of Arts degree in 1953.
86.
Dominic Bruce gave opportunities to many in Surrey failed by a secondary education.
87.
Dominic Bruce was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1989 for his services to Education.
88.
Dominic Bruce was awarded the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St Gregory the Great by Pope John Paul II.
89.
Dominic Bruce died on 12 February 2000 in Richmond, Surrey, England.
90.
Dominic Bruce was survived by Mary Brigid Bruce and his six sons and three daughters.
91.
Dominic Bruce is buried in Teddington Cemetery, Section Y, Grave 69.
92.
Dominic Bruce has advised on historical books on the subject of Colditz.
93.
Dominic Bruce was one of the numerous veterans of Colditz who advised on Michael Booker's book Collecting Colditz and Its Secrets.
94.
The documentary series was called Six from Colditz, and Dominic Bruce's interview was listed on 17 April 1973, and on 17 January 1974 in the Radio Times.