Dominic Bruce
http://dbpedia.org/resource/Dominic_Bruce an entity of type: Thing
Dominic Bruce, OBE, MC, AFM, KSG (7 June 1915 – 12 February 2000) was a British Royal Air Force officer, known as the "Medium Sized Man." He has been described as "the most ingenious escaper" of the Second World War. He 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".
rdf:langString
Dominic Bruce (1915 - 2000) was een Britse officier bij de RAF. Tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog probeerde hij 17 keer om uit de gevangenis te ontsnappen, onder meer uit Oflag IV-C Colditz. Hij werd steeds weer opgepakt. Bruce werd op 7 juni 1915 in , Noord-Engeland, geboren. Zijn oudere broer Thomas was broeder van de Christelijke Scholen. Hij had ook een jongere zuster en broer. Hij was avontuurlijk, liep een keer weg van huis en spijbelde regelmatig. Zijn ouders hadden geen geld om hem te laten studeren.
rdf:langString
rdf:langString
Dominic Bruce
rdf:langString
Dominic Bruce
rdf:langString
Dominic Bruce
rdf:langString
The "Medium Sized Man", "Medium Sized Officer", "Bruce", "Brucie" and "Der Kleine"
rdf:langString
Dominic Bruce
rdf:langString
Richmond, Surrey, England
rdf:langString
Hebburn, County Durham, England
xsd:integer
32633759
xsd:integer
1121493960
xsd:integer
45272
xsd:integer
1935
rdf:langString
center
rdf:langString
right
rdf:langString
United Kingdom
xsd:date
1915-06-07
rdf:langString
Dominic Bruce
xsd:date
2000-02-12
rdf:langString
The "Medium Sized Man", "Medium Sized Officer", "Bruce", "Brucie" and "Der Kleine"
xsd:gMonthDay
--06-16
rdf:langString
Flight Lieutenant Bruce was shot down over Zeebrugge in June, 1941, and picked up by a German vessel. After an unsuccessful tunnel attempt in July, 1942, Flight Lieutenant Bruce and two companions made a very clever escape from Spangenburg in September, 1942, disguised as a German civilian commission and officer escort. They reached Cassel aerodrome hoping to find a Junkers 52 – the only German aircraft they knew how to fly – and, finding none of this type on the field, they decided to make for France but were caught several days later near Frankenberg. After this attempt, Flight Lieutenant Bruce was transferred to Warburg. From there he made several attempts to escape, the most successful being in January, 1942, when three men masqueraded as a German guard escorting a party of British orderlies. For this, Flight Lieutenant Bruce received three months in cells from which he attempted to escape with the aid of a dummy key, but was prevented by the bad weather. In September, 1942, he escaped from Colditz in an empty crate and made for Danzig. He was captured ten days later at Frankfurt-on-Oder, but escaped while awaiting interrogation. He reached Danzig and was arrested trying to board a troop ship. Flight Lieutenant Bruce continued to try every possible means of escape, with varying degrees of success, throughout his captivity making about seventeen attempts in all. He was liberated from Colditz in April 1945.
rdf:langString
"Who are you?" Bruce asked Black.
"Who are you?" Black parried.
"I’m an R.A.F. Officer," Bruce.
"Where from?" Black.
"I’m a Tynesider. But I havent been there for a while. Where are you from?" Bruce.
"Norway." Black.
"Well, if you want any messages sent home to England, we can send them for you," Bruce.
"Tell them things went all right in Norway." Black.
In reel 6 of the IWM tapes, Bruce relates that before Eggers -accompanied by two sinister Sicherheitsdienst officers, hustled him back to his cell, Bruce attempted to find out more about these mysterious British strangers, but Captain Black became very evasive.
"Ah" Bruce joked, "you have been told not to talk to strange men". Black laughed and the conversation ended there.
rdf:langString
— Conversation in the civilian town cells between Bruce, who was serving time in solitude for the 'Tea Chest' escape attempt and Black, who would go on to be executed on Hitler's orders.
rdf:langString
— A translation of the notice, wrote in broken French, translated by Captain Baxter.
rdf:langString
— London Gazette
<perCent>
30.0
80.0
rdf:langString
Dominic Bruce, OBE, MC, AFM, KSG (7 June 1915 – 12 February 2000) was a British Royal Air Force officer, known as the "Medium Sized Man." He has been described as "the most ingenious escaper" of the Second World War. He 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". 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.
rdf:langString
Dominic Bruce (1915 - 2000) was een Britse officier bij de RAF. Tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog probeerde hij 17 keer om uit de gevangenis te ontsnappen, onder meer uit Oflag IV-C Colditz. Hij werd steeds weer opgepakt. Bruce werd op 7 juni 1915 in , Noord-Engeland, geboren. Zijn oudere broer Thomas was broeder van de Christelijke Scholen. Hij had ook een jongere zuster en broer. Hij was avontuurlijk, liep een keer weg van huis en spijbelde regelmatig. Zijn ouders hadden geen geld om hem te laten studeren. In 1935 kwam hij als navigator bij Nr 9 Squadron RAF. Nadat hij op 6 oktober 1938 een tweede crash had overleefd, kreeg hij de Air Force Medal (AFM).
rdf:langString
College principal
xsd:string
United Kingdom
xsd:gYear
1946
xsd:gYear
1935
xsd:nonNegativeInteger
107093
xsd:string
45272
