THE LONG MARCH
Although he grew up in Oxford, Dennis David George Bryden was born in Marylebone, London.
Dennis was educated at the Oxford School of Technology, Art and Commerce.
He was an active member of the Scouts, as well as the St John’s Ambulance Brigade before he joined the Air Training Corps. There, he rose to be Sergeant.
Aged just 17, Dennis volunteered for aircrew duties, which led to him being called up to the RAF in March 1942.
He sailed to Canada on the Queen Mary before being transferred to Texas, to the Number One British Flying Training School, where he learned to be a pilot.
Dennis was posted back to the United Kingdom to fly heavy bombers. He was given his own crew and a new Halifax plane at just twenty years old.
Dennis flew the Halifax to Morocco to deliver supplies. From there, he was transferred to 624 Squadron based at Blida in Algeria.
Their mission was to drop supplies to the French Resistance.
However, Dennis had a bad crash and was hospitalised for a few weeks.
After his recovery, Dennis was sent to 148 Squadron based in Brindisi, Italy. He flew supplies to the Italian Resistance in the Alps.
On the 10th September 1944, Dennis flew from Brindisi to Poland to drop supplies to the local resistance forces. Following an attack by an enemy fighter over Hungary, a fire started on the starboard wing of his plane.
He lost control of the aircraft. All the crew, including Dennis, bailed out. Everyone landed successfully and they set off together through the Hungarian countryside.
They were all captured very quickly, close to the town of Debrecen.
The crew were sent in a cattle truck to Prisoner of War camps in Germany. As the officer, Dennis was separated from his men and was transferred to Stalag Luft 3, near Sagan.
It was from this camp that the ‘Great Escape’ had occurred just a few months earlier.
1944 was a very bad winter – the worst seen in Germany for fifty years. The whole camp froze. Dennis spent his time reading and playing ice hockey.
On January 27th 1945, all the prisoners were told to pack up their belongings quickly. The Russians were advancing, and the camp was hurriedly evacuated.
The POWs were sent on the ‘Long March’ west. There was terrible suffering. Dennis and a friend made a makeshift sledge to carry their few possessions on. It lasted 45 miles before falling apart.
The prisoners were forced to sleep in barns and churches.
They arrived at Spremberg in early February, just as the thaw began – and spent the night in some abandoned barracks.
From there, 1,916 men, including Dennis, were taken in cattle trucks to the prisoner of war camp, Marlag Und Milag Nord, near to the city of Bremen.
On the 9th April 1945, all the prisoners were taken out of the camp under armed guard, and marched eastwards. However, on the 25th April, near Lubeck, the guards vanished.
Shortly afterwards, the prisoners were met by British forces, and liberated.
One week later, Dennis was flown back to Aylesbury.
He got no rest. He was immediately put on a refresher course, before joining the 511 Squadron at Lyneham and he began to fly troops out to the Far East.
He was demobbed in 1946 and went back to Morris Motors working as a buyer.
Dennis married Phyllis and they had three children, two daughters and a son.
In the late 1960s, Dennis was headhunted by Lord Strathcarron and became a partner in his business, ‘Strathcarron and Co’, suppliers of parts to the British motor industry.
Dennis became Chair of the Institute of British Carriage and Automobile Manufacturers.
He also got himself a private pilot’s licence. Dennis shared the company Cessna with his friend, Lord Strathcarron, flying abroad for important business meetings.
Dennis was also a keen golfer and was captain of two clubs in Oxfordshire, where he continued to live until his death.
Phyllis died in 2020.
RIP – Repeatedly Incarcerated Pilot
