Sydney Dowse
Encyclopedia
Flight Lieutenant
Sydney Hastings Dowse MC
(21 November 1918 – 10 April 2008) was a Royal Air Force
pilot who became a prisoner of war
and survived The Great Escape during the Second World War.
and was educated at Hurstpierpoint College
. In July 1937 he joined the recently formed Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
and learnt to fly at weekends.
At the outbreak of war in September 1939, he was called up for regular service and completed his pilot training. Commissioned as a Pilot Officer
on 21 October 1940, with seniority from 9 August 1940.
He joined No 608 Squadron
attached to Coastal Command flying Avro Anson
s on anti-submarine and convoy escort operations. At the end of 1940 he volunteered to join the No 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit (PRU), flying Spitfires.
He was mentioned in despatches on 11 June 1942 and promoted to Flight Lieutenant
on 21 October 1942, with senority from 9 August 1942.
He was shot down on a reconnaissance mission to photograph the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau at Brest, 15 August 1941. He was wounded in the leg and quickly captured by the Germans, becoming a prisoner of war
.
His next attempt was from Stalag IX-C
at Bad Sulza
on 21 January 1942. He exchanged identity with a Canadian POW and joined in with a work party. He managed to slip away unnoticed when outside the camp. After travelling some distance by train to Werwitz, he continued on foot, through deep snow towards the German-Belgian frontier where he was eventually captured five day later, suffering from extreme exhaustion and exposure.
Following a brief period in hospital, he was transferred to Oflag VI-B
at Warburg.
At Warburg, he participated in the construction of an escape tunnel, which on 18 April 1942, was completed. He, and 34 others (including the legless air ace Douglas Bader
) prepared to escape. However as the tunnel broke the surface, it became clear that it was slightly too short, and the exit appeared in the beat of a German sentry. Six RAF officers managed to escape, but due to the close proximity of the sentry, no one else, including Dowse, was able to escape.
at Sagan
.
Dowse's next escape attempted happened on 30 November 1942, when he, and Flt Lt
Stanisław 'Danny' Krol cut through the wire into the centre compound and crawled across that compound using blankets as camouflage. They were in the process of cutting the wire to get out when they were arrested and sentenced to 14 days solitary confinement.
Dowse, who had some of German, befriended a German corporal who worked alongside Dowse in the camps censor office. From this contact, Dowse was able to gain useful information and documents which aided the escape organisation. He was able to 'borrow' a genuine gate pass, which was copied by the camp's forgery department, and a copy was used on the delousing break
mass escape in June 1943.
Through this same contact, Dowse was able to gain information about the German secret rocket establishment at Peenemünde
. This information was passed onto British intelligence via secret codes written into POWs' letters home.
He also learnt that the Gestapo
had plans for Roger Bushell
if he were caught escaping again. Dowse warned Bushell, who chose to ignore the warning.
and Harry Day. One tunnel, code named 'Harry' which Dowse had helped build, was completed in early 1944.
On 24 March 1944 he took part in the The Great Escape through tunnel 'Harry', escaping with Flt Lt
Stanisław 'Danny' Krol. He had drawn escape number 21, and was disguised as a Danish foreign worker, equipped with the appropriate (forged) documents and clothing provided by his 'contact'.
They travelled mainly by foot towards the Polish border, but were recaptured just inside Germany on 6 April 1944. They were one of the last escapers to be recaught. Taken to the local Gestapo
headquarters they were interrogated, before being separated.
Dowse was sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp
. Danny Krol, was among the 50 recaptured officers to be executed.
and Bertram James
) and was placed in Sonderlager A (Special Camp A) within the main camp. Here were housed a handful of other 'political' prisoners, including SOE
agent Peter Churchill
, two Russian generals, various other Russians, Poles, Italians and four British soldiers of Irish origin. Later they were joined by British Commando
Jack Churchill
.
Dowse and James almost immediately began another tunnel, which was kept secret from all non-British personnel. This was completed and used on the night of 23 September 1944, when Dowse, James, Day, Dodge and Jack Churchill escaped.
He paired up with Day, and they travelled by train into Berlin, however they were recaptured the next night when hiding in a bombed out house.
Placed in the death cells back at Sachsenhausen, he, as with all the escapers which had been recaught, were only spared execution mainly thanks to Day's efforts under interrogation.
After sending several months as in solitary confinement he, in April 1945, together with other prominent prisoners, was transferred to Tyrol
via concentration camps at Flossenburg
and Dachau.
He was awarded the Military Cross
for his services as a POW. This award being published in the London Gazette
on 16 August 1946.
at Buckingham Palace
. For a number of years in the 1950s, at the time of the communist insurgency, he served in Malaya
as a rubber plantation manager in the Penang
Settlement. After the war, he worked, possibly unwittingly, for a short time as a representative for Bernie Cornfield's insurance fraud "The Dover Plan" as well as other unsuccessful and/or dubious ventures. He lived mainly on his heroic stories from the war, which were a laissez passer in post-war society.
He married three times, for the most part to women of some fortune but was single at the time of his death. (He married Florence Marion Byers, daughter of wealthy businessman and Liberal, C. Charles Byers, then ran off, in 1968, with "Wings Day"'s wife, to his former superior officer's eternal chagrin.)
In retirement Dowse divided his time between elegant homes in Chelsea and Monte Carlo. He was an equivocal figure, finding it difficult to distinguish fact from fiction and to adjust to a non-violent life after the war. He had very few real friends.
He returned to Stalag Luft III
in March 1994, and March 2004 to mark the anniversaries of the Great Escape, and to commemorate his friends who did not survive.
Flight Lieutenant
Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries. It ranks above flying officer and immediately below squadron leader. The name of the rank is the complete phrase; it is never shortened to "lieutenant"...
Sydney Hastings Dowse MC
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
(21 November 1918 – 10 April 2008) was a Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
pilot who became a prisoner of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
and survived The Great Escape during the Second World War.
Early life and RAFVR
Born in HammersmithHammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
and was educated at Hurstpierpoint College
Hurstpierpoint College
Hurstpierpoint College is an independent, co-educational, day and boarding school for pupils aged 4–18, located just to the north of the village of Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex in the lee of the South Downs...
. In July 1937 he joined the recently formed Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
The Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve consists of a number of groupings of individual military reservists for the management and operation of the Royal Air Force's Air Training Corps and CCF Air Cadet formations, Volunteer Gliding Squadrons , Air Experience Flights, and also to form the...
and learnt to fly at weekends.
At the outbreak of war in September 1939, he was called up for regular service and completed his pilot training. Commissioned as a Pilot Officer
Pilot Officer
Pilot officer is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries. It ranks immediately below flying officer...
on 21 October 1940, with seniority from 9 August 1940.
He joined No 608 Squadron
No. 608 Squadron RAF
No. 608 Squadron was an Auxiliary Air Force squadron of the Royal Air Force during World War II. It flew during its existence as a bomber, fighter and reconnaissance unit and was the only RAF squadron to be equipped with the unsuccessful Blackburn Botha torpedo bomber.-Formation and early years:...
attached to Coastal Command flying Avro Anson
Avro Anson
The Avro Anson is a British twin-engine, multi-role aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force, Fleet Air Arm and numerous other air forces prior to, during, and after the Second World War. Named for British Admiral George Anson, it was originally designed for maritime reconnaissance, but was...
s on anti-submarine and convoy escort operations. At the end of 1940 he volunteered to join the No 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit (PRU), flying Spitfires.
He was mentioned in despatches on 11 June 1942 and promoted to Flight Lieutenant
Flight Lieutenant
Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries. It ranks above flying officer and immediately below squadron leader. The name of the rank is the complete phrase; it is never shortened to "lieutenant"...
on 21 October 1942, with senority from 9 August 1942.
He was shot down on a reconnaissance mission to photograph the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau at Brest, 15 August 1941. He was wounded in the leg and quickly captured by the Germans, becoming a prisoner of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
.
Early escape attempts
His first escape attempt came on 1 December 1941, when he was recovering from a leg wound sustained when he was shot down. He escaped from a hospital at Stadtroda, however was recaptured three days later attempting to cross the Dutch-German border.His next attempt was from Stalag IX-C
Stalag IX-C
Stalag IX-C was a World War II German POW camp. Although its headquarters were located near Bad Sulza, between Erfurt and Leipzig in Thuringia, its sub-camps - Arbeitskommandos - were spread over a wide area, particularly those holding prisoners working in the potassium mines, south of...
at Bad Sulza
Bad Sulza
*anthonys wiilyBad Sulza is a town in the Weimarer Land district, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated on the river Ilm, 15 km southwest of Naumburg, and 18 km north of Jena....
on 21 January 1942. He exchanged identity with a Canadian POW and joined in with a work party. He managed to slip away unnoticed when outside the camp. After travelling some distance by train to Werwitz, he continued on foot, through deep snow towards the German-Belgian frontier where he was eventually captured five day later, suffering from extreme exhaustion and exposure.
Following a brief period in hospital, he was transferred to Oflag VI-B
Oflag VI-B
Oflag VI-B Dössel was a World War II German POW camp for officers located SW of the small town Dössel in north-western Germany.- Timeline :In 1940 the camp was built on what had been originally intended to be an airfield...
at Warburg.
At Warburg, he participated in the construction of an escape tunnel, which on 18 April 1942, was completed. He, and 34 others (including the legless air ace Douglas Bader
Douglas Bader
Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader CBE, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar, FRAeS, DL was a Royal Air Force fighter ace during the Second World War. He was credited with 20 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared probable and 11 enemy aircraft damaged.Bader joined the...
) prepared to escape. However as the tunnel broke the surface, it became clear that it was slightly too short, and the exit appeared in the beat of a German sentry. Six RAF officers managed to escape, but due to the close proximity of the sentry, no one else, including Dowse, was able to escape.
Stalag Luft III
In May 1942, he with a batch of other RAF officers, was transferred to Stalag Luft IIIStalag Luft III
Stalag Luft III was a Luftwaffe-run prisoner-of-war camp during World War II that housed captured air force servicemen. It was in the German Province of Lower Silesia near the town of Sagan , southeast of Berlin...
at Sagan
Zagan
Zagan may refer to:*Zagan - a demon in the Ars Goetia*Żagań - a town in west Poland...
.
Dowse's next escape attempted happened on 30 November 1942, when he, and Flt Lt
Flight Lieutenant
Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries. It ranks above flying officer and immediately below squadron leader. The name of the rank is the complete phrase; it is never shortened to "lieutenant"...
Stanisław 'Danny' Krol cut through the wire into the centre compound and crawled across that compound using blankets as camouflage. They were in the process of cutting the wire to get out when they were arrested and sentenced to 14 days solitary confinement.
Dowse, who had some of German, befriended a German corporal who worked alongside Dowse in the camps censor office. From this contact, Dowse was able to gain useful information and documents which aided the escape organisation. He was able to 'borrow' a genuine gate pass, which was copied by the camp's forgery department, and a copy was used on the delousing break
Delousing break
The Delousing break was a mass escape attempt by British, American and Allied Aircrew Officer Prisoners of War during the Second World War. It occurred on 12 June 1943 from the North Compound of Stalag Luft III POW camp in Germany- Main Party :...
mass escape in June 1943.
Through this same contact, Dowse was able to gain information about the German secret rocket establishment at Peenemünde
Peenemünde
The Peenemünde Army Research Center was founded in 1937 as one of five military proving grounds under the Army Weapons Office ....
. This information was passed onto British intelligence via secret codes written into POWs' letters home.
He also learnt that the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
had plans for Roger Bushell
Roger Bushell
Squadron Leader Roger Joyce Bushell RAF was a South African-born British Auxiliary Air Force pilot who organised and led the famous escape from the Nazi prisoner of war camp, Stalag Luft III. He was a victim of the Stalag Luft III murders. The escape was used as the basis for the film The Great...
if he were caught escaping again. Dowse warned Bushell, who chose to ignore the warning.
The Great Escape
During his time in the North Compound at Stalag Luft III, Dowse became involved with the construction of the three tunnels intended for a mass escape, masterminded by Roger BushellRoger Bushell
Squadron Leader Roger Joyce Bushell RAF was a South African-born British Auxiliary Air Force pilot who organised and led the famous escape from the Nazi prisoner of war camp, Stalag Luft III. He was a victim of the Stalag Luft III murders. The escape was used as the basis for the film The Great...
and Harry Day. One tunnel, code named 'Harry' which Dowse had helped build, was completed in early 1944.
On 24 March 1944 he took part in the The Great Escape through tunnel 'Harry', escaping with Flt Lt
Flight Lieutenant
Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries. It ranks above flying officer and immediately below squadron leader. The name of the rank is the complete phrase; it is never shortened to "lieutenant"...
Stanisław 'Danny' Krol. He had drawn escape number 21, and was disguised as a Danish foreign worker, equipped with the appropriate (forged) documents and clothing provided by his 'contact'.
They travelled mainly by foot towards the Polish border, but were recaptured just inside Germany on 6 April 1944. They were one of the last escapers to be recaught. Taken to the local Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
headquarters they were interrogated, before being separated.
Dowse was sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May, 1945. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used as an NKVD...
. Danny Krol, was among the 50 recaptured officers to be executed.
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
At Sachsenhausen, he found himself with 3 other survivors of the 'Great Escape' (Harry Day, Johnnie DodgeJohnnie Dodge
Major John 'Johnnie' Bigelow Dodge DSO DSC MC also known as 'the Artful Dodger' was a British Army officer who fought in both world wars and became a notable prisoner of war during the Second World War and survived The Great Escape....
and Bertram James
Bertram James
Squadron Leader Bertram Arthur "Jimmy" James, MC, RAF was a British survivor of The Great Escape.-Early life:James was born in India, the son of a tea-planter, and was educated at The King's School, Canterbury...
) and was placed in Sonderlager A (Special Camp A) within the main camp. Here were housed a handful of other 'political' prisoners, including SOE
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
agent Peter Churchill
Peter Churchill
Peter Morland Churchill DSO Croix de Guerre was an SOE Officer in France during World War II.He was a brother of Group Captain Walter Churchill DSO DFC and Major Oliver Churchill DSO MC who was also an SOE Officer during World War II.-Biography:...
, two Russian generals, various other Russians, Poles, Italians and four British soldiers of Irish origin. Later they were joined by British Commando
British Commandos
The British Commandos were formed during the Second World War in June 1940, following a request from the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, for a force that could carry out raids against German-occupied Europe...
Jack Churchill
Jack Churchill
Lieutenant Colonel John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming "Jack" Churchill, DSO & Bar, MC & Bar , nicknamed "Fighting Jack Churchill" and "Mad Jack", was a British soldier who fought throughout World War II armed with a longbow, arrows and a claymore...
.
Dowse and James almost immediately began another tunnel, which was kept secret from all non-British personnel. This was completed and used on the night of 23 September 1944, when Dowse, James, Day, Dodge and Jack Churchill escaped.
He paired up with Day, and they travelled by train into Berlin, however they were recaptured the next night when hiding in a bombed out house.
Placed in the death cells back at Sachsenhausen, he, as with all the escapers which had been recaught, were only spared execution mainly thanks to Day's efforts under interrogation.
After sending several months as in solitary confinement he, in April 1945, together with other prominent prisoners, was transferred to Tyrol
Transport of concentration camp inmates to Tyrol
The Transport of Inmates of German Concentration Camps to Tyrol happened in late April 1945 and led to the only time such prisoners were liberated by German troops.- Transfer and liberation:...
via concentration camps at Flossenburg
Flossenbürg concentration camp
Konzentrationslager Flossenbürg was a Nazi concentration camp built in May 1938 by the Schutzstaffel Economic-Administrative Main Office at Flossenbürg, in the Oberpfalz region of Bavaria, Germany, near the border with Czechoslovakia. Until its liberation in April 1945, more than 96,000 prisoners...
and Dachau.
He was awarded the Military Cross
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
for his services as a POW. This award being published in the London Gazette
London Gazette
The London Gazette is one of the official journals of record of the British government, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, in which certain statutory notices are required to be published...
on 16 August 1946.
Later life
Dowse served as an equerryEquerry
An equerry , and related to the French word "écuyer" ) is an officer of honour. Historically, it was a senior attendant with responsibilities for the horses of a person of rank. In contemporary use, it is a personal attendant, usually upon a Sovereign, a member of a Royal Family, or a national...
at Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
. For a number of years in the 1950s, at the time of the communist insurgency, he served in Malaya
Federation of Malaya
The Federation of Malaya is the name given to a federation of 11 states that existed from 31 January 1948 until 16 September 1963. The Federation became independent on 31 August 1957...
as a rubber plantation manager in the Penang
Penang
Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...
Settlement. After the war, he worked, possibly unwittingly, for a short time as a representative for Bernie Cornfield's insurance fraud "The Dover Plan" as well as other unsuccessful and/or dubious ventures. He lived mainly on his heroic stories from the war, which were a laissez passer in post-war society.
He married three times, for the most part to women of some fortune but was single at the time of his death. (He married Florence Marion Byers, daughter of wealthy businessman and Liberal, C. Charles Byers, then ran off, in 1968, with "Wings Day"'s wife, to his former superior officer's eternal chagrin.)
In retirement Dowse divided his time between elegant homes in Chelsea and Monte Carlo. He was an equivocal figure, finding it difficult to distinguish fact from fiction and to adjust to a non-violent life after the war. He had very few real friends.
He returned to Stalag Luft III
Stalag Luft III
Stalag Luft III was a Luftwaffe-run prisoner-of-war camp during World War II that housed captured air force servicemen. It was in the German Province of Lower Silesia near the town of Sagan , southeast of Berlin...
in March 1994, and March 2004 to mark the anniversaries of the Great Escape, and to commemorate his friends who did not survive.