Early escape attempts His first escape attempt came on 1 December 1941, when he was recovering from the leg wound sustained when he was shot down. He escaped from a hospital at Stadtroda in Thuringia. However, Dowse was recaptured three days later attempting to cross the Dutch-German border. His next attempt was from
Stalag IX-C at
Bad Sulza on 21 January 1942. He exchanged identities with a Canadian POW and joined 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 re-captured five days 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 excavation of an escape tunnel, which was completed on 18 April 1942. He, and 34 others (including the legless air ace,
Douglas Bader, and Dowse's later escaping partner,
Stanislaw Krol), prepared to escape. However, as the tunnel broke surface, it became clear that it was slightly too short, and the exit hole had emerged directly in the patrol path of a German sentry. Six RAF officers managed to escape, but, due to the proximity of the sentry, no one else, including Dowse, was able to do so.
Stalag Luft III In May 1942, Dowse was transferred to
Stalag Luft III at
Sagan with a batch of other RAF officers. Dowse's next escape attempt happened on 30 November 1942, when he and
Flt Lt Stanisław 'Danny' Krol cut through the wire into the camp's central compound and crawled across that compound using blankets as camouflage. They were in the process of cutting the perimeter wire to get out when they were arrested and sentenced to 14 days' solitary confinement. Dowse, who spoke some German, befriended a German corporal who worked alongside Dowse in the camp's censor office. From this contact, Dowse was able to gain useful information and documents which aided the camp 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 on to British intelligence via secret codes written into POWs' letters home. Dowse also learnt that the
Gestapo had liquidation plans for
Roger Bushell 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 Bushell,
Harry Day and Canadian Wally Floody, who was instrumental in the tunnel's design and construction. One tunnel, codenamed 'Harry' which Dowse had helped build, was completed in early 1944. On 24 March 1944, he took part in
The Great Escape through tunnel 'Harry', escaping with
Flt Lt Stanisław Krol. Dowse 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'. Dowse and Krol travelled mainly by foot towards the Polish border, but were recaptured just inside Germany on 6 April 1944. They were amongst the last escapers to be re-captured. Taken to the local
Gestapo headquarters, they were interrogated, before being separated. Dowse was sent to
Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
Stanisław 'Danny' Krol was among the 50 recaptured officers to be executed.
Sachsenhausen concentration camp At Sachsenhausen, Dowse found himself with three fellow survivors of the 'Great Escape': (
Harry Day,
Johnnie Dodge and
Bertram James). They were 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. Dowse paired up with Day and they travelled by train into Berlin. However, they were recaptured the next day when hiding in a bombed out house in the Berlin suburb of Mahlsdorf. Placed in the death cells back at Sachsenhausen, all the escapers who had been re-captured were spared execution mainly thanks to Day's efforts under interrogation. In April 1945, after spending several months in solitary confinement Dowse, together with other prominent prisoners (Prominenten), was
transferred to the Tyrol via concentration camps at
Flossenburg and
Dachau. He was awarded the
Military Cross for his services as a
POW. This award was published in the
London Gazette on 16 August 1946. ==Later life==