Was the Great Escape in fact the Great Folly? Henry Söderberg, Swedish international YMCA representative, regularly visited POW camps. He considered British officers at Stalag Luft 3 unreasonably ‘arrogant’ in dealings with their captors. Did this arrogance cloud thinking to a dangerous degree? At Schubin’s Oflag 64, Söderberg found American prisoners much more pragmatic.333 Most conserved their energy and resources for an escape with a genuine chance of success – their January 1945 break, when hundreds skedaddled east to join the Russians.334
No one disputes the courage of the Great Escapers. It’s probable that, without Roger Bushell as the driving force, a record seventy-six RAF prisoners wouldn’t have escaped the camp. Brickhill described Bushell as a brooding genius, absolutely autocratic and ruthless in his determination to get what he wanted, yet at times prone to bursts of charm. He could have been describing what psychologists characterise as a typical psychopath, people concerned with their own power and ends who charm and manipulate others to get what they want. Mind you, research by New York psychologist Paul Babiak suggests that one in twenty-five bosses in business and government today is a psychopath.335
In the end, it was Bushell’s single-minded determination to himself be free that sent fifty men to their death. The night before the break, Sydney Dowse attempted to talk him out of it. ‘Nothing doing, Sydney,’ Bushell had irritably responded. ‘I’ve lived for this, and I’m going.’336 Was it incidental to Bushell’s personal escape goal that the more escapees on the loose, the more the authorities would be tied up, and the more his own chances of making a home run would be maximised?
Brickhill knew exactly what Bushell was like. Yet to paint him as Machiavellian would have defeated his purpose of making The Great Escape a cracking read. Brickhill had tried a prosaic, journalistic approach to the escape with his BBC radio talk, then in his press articles and Reader’s Digest piece, and lastly with the chapters about the escape in Escape to Danger. All to modest effect. To create a book readers couldn’t put down, he had to portray all those who followed Big X into Harry as heroes. And in the process, Bushell, too, became a hero.
In writing The Dam Busters, Brickhill became aware that Guy Gibson grew big-headed following the dams raid, especially after the British Government sent him on an American publicity tour which culminated in his being treated like a film star in Hollywood. As a consequence, the government decided not to send any more of its ‘heroes’ on similar jaunts. And when Gibson arrived at a new command in 1944, he was so full of himself that to bring him down a peg or two his pilots stripped him of his trousers and tossed him out the door. Brickhill was likely to have also learned that Gibson was a philanderer who cheated on his wife. In The Dam Busters, he made no mention of any of this.
Meanwhile, some historians believe that Brickhill’s influential book cast Bomber Command aircrew in such an heroic light that it made criticism of the morality of Bomber Command’s bombing of German cities unpalatable.
As for Douglas Bader, was he a hero? By Babiak’s definition, Bader, too, exhibited the traits of a psychopath. Even though Brickhill didn’t hold back on Bader’s dark side, many readers came to put the legless pilot on an heroic plinth. Was that more to do with them than with Bader, perhaps?
There’s no doubting that Brickhill’s legacy has staying power. The Dam Busters’ movie theme has become part of the RAF band’s repertoire. The theme of The Great Escape is the unofficial anthem of the England soccer team’s band. Although why English football fans continue to jibe their German counterparts with ‘Who won the war? We did!’ is beyond Australian, New Zealand, American and Canadian sports fans, who have grounds to chant a similar refrain, but never do.
In 2005, Brickhill’s son and daughter sold The Dam Busters film rights to British broadcasting icon Sir David Frost. He was partnered by Sir Peter Jackson, Kiwi producer and director of the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies, and a huge fan of the original film. Announcing production of a remake, they brought in British actor and TV personality Stephen Fry as scriptwriter. Jackson’s Weta Workshop began construction of props. Jackson was then sidelined by production of the Hobbit movies, and David Frost passed away in 2013.
As recently as August 2014, Jackson said he still planned to make the movie. Today, twenty full-scale replica Lancaster bombers built by WETA sit in a warehouse in Wellington, New Zealand, waiting for Jackson’s filmmakers to go to war. The film, if remade, will have to negotiate moral issues, not least the drowning of many innocent foreign workers as a result of the raid. Fry has already said that the name of Guy Gibson’s labrador would be changed from Nigger to Digger, to address American sensibilities. Meanwhile, with 1963’s Great Escape movie still a Christmas staple on British TV, in 2013 the BBC announced it would make a TV mini-series based on The Great Escape. There have been no subsequent announcements.
Paul Brickhill was no great intellectual. But he was a skilled and influential craftsman. He received no literary awards, and not a single honour was conferred on him by either the British or Australian governments – no OBE or Order of Australia for Brickhill the hero maker. He was a flawed man, who drank to excess, and raised his hand to his wife – for which he despised himself. Yet, if awards were restricted to those without flaws, few, if any, would be presented. Without Brickhill, the mass escape from Stalag Luft 3, the bombing of the Ruhr dams and the career of a legless pilot might have been swiftly forgotten in the post-war years. Because of him, they live on. So, too, should Brickhill’s memory.
Appendix: The Works of Paul Brickhill
BOOKS
Escape to Danger (With Conrad Norton). Faber & Faber, 1946
The Great Escape. Evans Brothers, 1950
The Dam Busters. Evans Brothers, 1951. Revised, Pan, 1971
Escape or Die. Evans Brothers, 1952
The Sunburnt Country (Contributor). William Collins, 1953
Reach for the Sky: The Story of Douglas Bader. William Collins, 1954
The Deadline. William Collins, 1962. Published as
War of Nerves in the USA, William Morrow, 1963
RADIO ADAPTATIONS
The Great Escape. Australasian Radio Productions, 1953
The Dam Busters. Australasian Radio Productions, 1953
Reach for the Sky. Australasian Radio Productions, 1954
TELEVISION & FILM ADAPTATIONS
The Great Escape, Philco-Goodyear TV Playhouse, NBC TV, 1951
The Dam Busters. Associated British Pictures Corporation, 1955
Reach for the Sky. Rank Organisation, 1956
The Great Escape. Mirisch Corporation-United Artists, 1963
War of Nerves. Bob Hope Chrysler Theater, CBS TV, 1964
Notes
1: Shot Down
1. JU to author, 2 December 2014.
2–5. Brickhill and Norton, Escape to Danger.
6. Bruckshaw’s eyewitness account is in Squadron Leader Harper’s 21 March 1943 report; Brickhill’s Casualty File. Norman Franks, editor of War Diaries of Neville Duke, incorrectly states that Brickhill was shot down by an Me 109 flown by Oberleutnant Heinz-Edgar Berres of JG77. Berres shot down another 242 Wing Spitfire that day, at 13.23 hours.
7–8. Escape to Danger.
9-10. Squadron Leader Harper’s report.
11–14. Escape to Danger.
2: Ink in the Blood
15. Launceston Daily Telegraph, 11 July 1908.
16. Launceston Daily Telegraph, 18 June 1883.
17. North Western Advocate & Emu Bay Times, 11 December 1903.
18. Sydney Morning Herald, 26 April 1905.
19. Examiner, 6 March 1905.
20. Brickhill mentions a white feather in 1939 when expressing no desire to enlist. Letter to Del Fox following Speedo Ball.
21–23. Sparrow, Crusade for Journalism.
24. Ibid. And Table Talk, Melbourne, 8 February 1917.
25. Sparrow.
3: Peter and Paul, the Apostles of Individualism
26. Port Pirie Recor
der, 17 March 1952.
27. Recorder, 27 April 1953.
28. Adelaide Mail, 12 November 1927.
29. Dundy, in Finch, Bloody Finch, put Peter Finch’s home on the corner of Lawrence and Wallace streets, but local historians believe it was on the corner of Lawrence and George.
30–32. Dundy, Finch, Bloody Finch.
33–34. Sydney Morning Herald, 8 December 1969.
4: Wiped Out
35. Dundy. And People, 20 May 1953.
36. Age, 1 May 1982.
37. Dundy.
38. Dundy.
39. Sun-Herald, 8 August 1954.
40. Dundy.
41. Sun-Herald, 8 August 1954.
42–43. Dundy.
44. Australasian Post, 20 May 1953.
45–46. Hetherington, Forty-Two Faces.
5: Flying Officer Brickhill
47–48. PB to DF, 1939.
49. Obituary, Australian, 25 April 1991.
50. Hetherington.
51. Albury Banner, Wodonga Express & Riverina Stock Journal, 11 April 1941. Sismey ended up piloting flying boats and was shot down off the Algerian coast flying a Catalina. Surviving the war, he captained the Australian Services cricket team that played in England in 1945.
52. Daily Advertiser, Wagga Wagga, 8 September 1941.
53–54. Age, 1 May 1982.
55. rcafuplands.blogspot.com.
56. Ottawa Citizen, 2 September 1941.
6: Spitfire Pilot
57. Examiner, 7 November 1941.
58–59. Escape to Danger. In reality, he probably said ‘Christ!’ rather than ‘Gosh!’.
60. Dahl, Over to You, ‘Death of an Old, Old Man.’
61. Obituary, London Times, 26 April 1991.
62. Johnson, Wing Leader.
63. Escape to Danger.
64. JU to author, 2 December 2014.
65. PB to DF, 28 January 1943.
66. AWM Oral History.
67. Duke, War Diaries of Neville Duke. Duke named none of the Australians at this party, but it’s hard to imagine that hard-drinking Brickhill wasn’t one of them, especially after Duke had noted Brickhill’s earlier whisky donation in his diary.
68–70. PB to DF, 28 January 1943.
71. Escape to Danger.
7: In the Bag
72. Duke.
73. ‘A Cobra in the Sky.’
74. Brickhill, footnote to Reach for the Sky. The lordly officer’s identity is unclear; several Guards officers were captured in Tunisia.
75. Williams, The Tunnel.
8: Welcome to Stalag Luft 3
76. Brickhill said little of his time at Dulag Luft. This account of the interrogation process is taken from George Harsh’s experience, in Lonesome Road. Brickhill’s interrogation likely took similar lines. The efficient Abwehr, German military intelligence, collected basic information about Allied servicemen from sources such as British newspapers and wire services. As for the greatcoat and scarf given to Brickhill, he certainly wasn’t wearing these when captured in Tunisia, but was wearing them on arrival at Stalag Luft 3 from Dulag Luft – they are shown in the photograph taken of him by the Luftwaffe that day.
77. Williams.
78. Sydney Sunday Telegraph, 15 March 1981.
79. Brickhill, ‘POW Goes Back … How the Germans Have Changed!’ Adelaide News, 24 December 1945.
80. In the singular, Brickhill spelled it ‘kriegy’, but ‘kriegie’ has become the norm.
9: The Tunnel Game
81. This was how George Harsh was greeted when he arrived at Stalag Luft 3. Harsh, Lonesome Road.
82–83. Brickhill, The Great Escape.
84. Sage, Sage.
85. Escape to Danger.
86. Sage.
10: In the Light of Day
87. The Great Escape.
88. Brickhill & Michie, ‘Tunnel to Freedom’, Secrets & Stories of the War.
89. The Great Escape.
90. Smith, Wings Day.
91. Sage.
92. Escape to Danger.
93. Harsh.
94–95. The Great Escape.
96. Brickhill made a point of mentioning that Van der Stock wore an RAAF greatcoat as part of his escape kit, and noted that another non-Australian escapee wore blue RAAF trousers during his escape bid. In writing The Great Escape, Brickhill made no mention of his own part in any aspect of the escape until the revised 1963 film tie-in edition. So it’s no surprise he made no mention of personally sharing these items with colleagues.
11: The Great Escape
97. Ash, Under the Wire.
98. Smith.
99. PB to DF, 27 November 1943.
100. Sydney Morning Herald, 8 September 1945.
101. Differing accounts variously put the number purged at 19, 20 and 24.
102. Smith.
103. Without offering a source, Vance, in A Gallant Company, claimed that Brickhill voluntarily withdrew. This is contradicted by Brickhill’s own accounts.
12: Counting the Cost
104. The Great Escape.
105. Smith.
106. The Great Escape.
107. ‘POW Goes Back.’ This was Brickhill’s first take on Von Lindeiner’s rant, written in 1945. Five years on, in The Great Escape, he would give a slightly different version of the commandant’s words, apparently provided by one or more of the men caught at the tunnel exit.
108. Jack Lyon, Great Escape: The Untold Story. Granada TV, 2001.
109. Brickhill and others stated that Massey saw Oberst Braune, who shortly after became full-time commandant. Evidence presented at the Nuremburg War Trials on 4 March 1946 shows that it was actually acting commandant Cordes who Massey saw that day. Walton and Eberhardt, in From Commandant to Captive, give Cordes’ first name as Erich.
13: March or Die
110. Brickhill, Foreword to 1963 Crest edition of The Great Escape.
111. ‘POW Goes Back.’
112. Brickhill, The Dam Busters.
113. Brickhill said in The Great Escape that evacuation began on 26 January, but in his 22 June 1945 interview at 11PDRC he correctly gave the date as 27 January.
114. Gammon, Not All Glory.
115. Escape to Danger.
116. Hetherington.
14: A Friendly Interrogation
117. Brickhill, ‘POW Goes Back.’
118. Ash.
119. The Great Escape.
120. JU to author, 2 December 2014.
121. Brickhill Casualty File.
122. Age, 1 May 1982.
123–124. PB to DF, 27 May 1945.
125. Brickhill mentioned this letter from home accusing Mary Callanan of ‘consorting’ with American servicemen during his divorce proceedings. See Divorce Papers.
126. Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), House of Commons, 23 June 1944.
127–128. ‘Anzacs Calling: Tunnel Escape from Stalag Luft 3.’
129–131. JU to author, 2 December 2014.
132. Brickhill’s own story, as Ted B, is in Chapter 18 of Escape to Danger. On 22 June 1945, he wrote the basic details of his own last flight and downing in the report he made during his RAAF debriefing at Brighton. Those details accord in every way with the story he wrote about ‘Ted B’s last sortie.
133. Transcript of BBC talk of 7 June 1945.
15: The Man Who Came Back
134. Escape to Danger.
135. Sun-Herald, 29 November 1959.
136. PB to ADF (undated), 1946.
137–140. ‘POW Goes Back.’
141. Harris, Bomber Offensive.
142–148. ‘POW Goes Back.’
149–150. Brickhill, ‘Doctors Fight to Save Europe from ’Flu’, Newcastle Sun, 22 December 1945.
151. Brickhill, ‘Berlin Family’s Drab Xmas Outlook,’ Adelaide Mail, 22 December 1945.
152–153. Brickhill, ‘Glassy-Eyed People of Berlin Have Now Ceased to Care,’ Newcastle Sun, 28 December 1945.
154–155 Brickhill, ‘No Home Here for H
err Laver,’ Adelaide Mail, 12 January 1946.
156–157. Bean, ‘SA Woman Returning from Berlin,’ Adelaide Mail, 12 January 1946.
158. Brickhill, ‘Do “Jungle Drums” Guide Jews?’, Adelaide Mail, 12 January 1946.
159. Brickhill, ‘Nazi Leaders Plotting to Rat on Mates,’ Adelaide Mail, 16 February 1946.
160. People, 20 May 1953.
161–162. ‘Nazi Leaders Plotting to Rat on Mates.’
163. Newcastle Sun, 12 March 1946.
164. Brickhill, ‘Red Minority Has Hungary in Its Grip,’ Adelaide Mail, 16 March 1946.
165. Newcastle Sun, 5 December 1946.
16: Back in England
166. Brisbane Courier Mail, 3 May 1982.
167. Sunday Mail, Brisbane, 20 December 1953.
168. Hetherington.
169. People, 20 May 1953.
170. The Great Escape, Crest 1963 edition.
171. People, 20 May 1953.
17: Enter the Author and Wife
172. The Dam Busters.
173. People, 20 May 1953.
174. The Great Escape, Foreword to 1963 Crest edition.
175–176. Harsh, Introduction to The Great Escape, 1963 Crest edition.
177. Divorce Papers. Margot disputed this.
178–179. Divorce Papers.
180. People, 20 May 1953.
181. Humphries obituary, London Telegraph, 21 February 2008.
182. London Daily Mail, 11 October 2011.
183. In The Dam Busters, for Wallis’ security, Brickhill stated that Wallis lived at Weybridge, Surrey, location of the Vickers-Armstrong factory.
184. The Dam Busters, Pan revised edition, 1983.
185. Foreword to The Dam Busters.
186. Review extracts taken from The Great Escape, 1995 Sheridan edition.
187. 9 October 1950.
188. Review extracts taken from The Great Escape, 1963 Crest edition.
189. Dundy.
190. Divorce Papers.
18: Bader, the Man with Tin Legs
191. The Dam Busters.
192. Brisbane Sunday Mail, 20 December 1953.
193. Divorce Papers.
194. Brickhill, ‘Getting to Grips with Amazing Bader.’ Examiner, 27 March 1954.
195–196. Turner, Douglas Bader.
197. London Daily Mail, 14 March 2013.
The Hero Maker Page 32
