One year after the end of hostilities the British film makers shot ´The Captive Heart´ one inspired by Joe´s escapes. In 2003 a documentary on his story was shot in the Czech Republic -
www.ceskatelevize.cz/ivysilani/10122453122/muz-ktery-precenil-ceskou-dusi-aneb-uteky-josefa-brykse/. His English wife authored a book ´The Hopes and the Dispairs´ in the same year. Eleven years later a book ´On the Run´ by Ludek Navara and Miroslav Kasacek was published.
Thanks to the visit to the pilot´s native house we were provided with further data. Joe was was born to a family of a farmer at the village of Lastany nr Olomouc on Mar 18, 1916. Two horses, four cows and pigs were kept by his parents. Having graduated from the Olomouc Secondary School of Trade Joe did not apply for the Air Force though he had been sold on flying. Because of his mother´s worries of Joe´s life he sent his application to the Pardubice Cavalry Academy. He launched this course on Oct 1, 1935 and excelled among the cadets. Posted to the Kosice Dragoon Reg. On Sep 30, 1936 Joseph Bryks was promoted to Cpl and sent to the Hranice Military Academy to undergo a CO cavalry course . During the studies he swapped for the Air Force Dpt. In 1937. 2nd Lts were commisioned in two groups. Joe in the second one - on Aug 29. He was posted to No 5 Flight of No 2 Dr Edvard Benes Air Reg stationed at Olomouc. On Oct 4, 1937 a CO course was launched by 2nd Lt Bryks at the Prostejov Aviation Academy. He completed it as a single engine aircraft pilot on Sep 21, 1938. Nine days later he reported himself to Lt Karel Mrazek Commander of No 33 Flight as a combat pilot. Joe Bryks married Mary Cerna from the near village of Dolany in the second part of Mar 1939.
On Aug 15 Joe got holiday due to the disbanding of the Czech Forces by the Wehrmacht. Joe´s daughter was born In September but she died in two mere days. From Sep 18, 1939 Joe Bryks served for the Ministry of Interior in the distant county of Velke Mezirici. He resigned on Jan 10, 1940. In ten days Joe Bryks set out for his journey to Cz Foreign Forces via the Route of the Balkans. On Jan 26 he was detained in Budapest and jailed there till Apr 4. Deported to Slovakia Joe escaped and and went southwards again. Having avoided travelling via Budapest Joe went towards the border on Croatia. He crossed the river of Drava. Assisted by the Czechs living on the Croatian Territory Joe was put up in Zagreb at the Czech National House 20 Subiceva St. According the list had by one of this assistants Mr Vaclav Sramek pIlots Joseph Bryks and Stanislav Hlucka entrained for Beograd as members of No 11 Group of sixteen men on Aug 12, 1940. The Czech Committee was in charge of their interim papers - see the ´Route of the Balkans´ text. Accomodation at the Czech National House at Garasanin St, Beograd. Barred from going out. Provided with the papers by the French Consulate Joe left Beograd for Thesaloniki in a combatant style group on Apr 17. Then via Istanbul and Syria by train to Beirut. Having embarked a passenger ship liner he sailed to Marseille via the port of Alexandria. Joe Bryks got conscripted into the Cz Foreign Army as No 3390 in Marseille. Assigned to the Air Group at the Agde Cz Depot on a shore of the Mediterranian Sea. They saw no action. After the capitulation of France they left for near Port Vendres. Cpt Jaroslav Kulhanek succeeed in persuading the captain of the British destroyer HMS Velox to radio and ask for transport ships to take Cz men away from Port Vendres. The ships did arrive. On June 24, 1940 Joe Bryks embarked the Apapa passenger ship. Convoyed at Gib she laid anchor in Liverpool on July 7, 1940.
Thanks to his exceptional command of English Joe acted as an interpreter at Cholmondeley till July 31. On Aug 1, 1940 he volunteered for the RAFVR and took his Oath of Allegiance. He was alloted the CO Service No of 82538 and ranked a P/O.
Three days later P/O Bryks was posted to Cz 310 Fighter Sqn stationed at Duxford, Cambs. On Aug 18 he was sent to No 6 SFTS Sutton Bridge. His doing damage to one undercarriage leg of his Hurricane while landing resulted in his posting to Polish No 12 OTU on Oct 1, 1940. Promoted to F/O on Oct 28, 1940. On Nov 11 was F/O Bryks alloted to No 4 FPP Kemble. From Jan 1, 1941 P/O Bryks was a flying instructor with No 6 SFTS. But doing so was far from his satisfaction. He applied for transfer to see action. On Apr 10, 1941 he was posted to No 242 Sqn RCAF flying Hurricanes Mk IIB.
P/O Bryks made acquintance of a WAAF member Gertruda Deller late May. On June 17, 1941 he was bested by the Luftwaffe ace Major Adolf Galland over Northern France. He was caught by Germans from the St Omer Luftwaffe airfield on the night of June 18, 1941. Joe kept his identity under lid from the very beginning. The escapes were planned by him and F/O Otakar Cerny a W/O of Cz No 311 Bomber Sqn. Both fled from the Wartburg POW camp in 1941. He was seized nr Stuttgart while asleep in he woods. Caught for the second time in September 1942 Joe was beaten.
On Sep 17, 1942 his parents Frank and Anna as well as and the oldest brother Florian were arrested in the ´Emigranten´ campaign. Both Frank and Anna were incarcerated in the Olomouc ´Garnak´ prison. Florian was held at the Svatoborice internment camp and the Kounic dorm in Brno. Facing a corridor wall and listening to the announced numbers Florian never knew whether the next one would be the one of him. It would have meant his instant shooting dead in the court. Joe´s parents were released in six months, his oldest brother in one year. Supplies of agricultural products by them for the Wehrmacht were prioritized. The Gestapo also arrested Joe´s wife and her parents. More - in the ´nr Svatoborice´, ´E 3000 Action´ and ´E 3000 Emigranten´ texts.
Bryks and Cerny fled for the third time in March 1943.Potřetí Bryks a Černý uprchli v březnu 1943 z táFrom a POW camp in Nortern Poland. Put up by a widow Mrs Blaszkiewicz in Warsaw. She was denounced by the Poles early June and executed. Bryks both beaten and stabbed by a bayonet in his underbelly in the Pawiak prison. In September Cerny and Bryks were moved to the Sagan Airmen POW camp. In October Joe went to Lamsdorf. He underwent surgery of his underbelly. Back in the Sagan Joe was not fit to dig the Harry tunnel that reason for. Neither he nor Cerny were alotted preferential number as Arnost Valenta for their escape. Their numbers were 120 and 115. So their turn was not to get into the tunnel till the German guard spotted the mouth of it on March 25, 1944. More : www.elsham.pwp.blueyender.co.uk/gt_esc/. Murder of seventy three seized Allied POWs by the Gestapo resulted in ban on further escapes from UK. A letter sent by the London Cz Inspectorate on his promoting to F/Lt dated to Oct 28, 1943 with a remark ´Czech´ revealed Joe´s true name. That made his situation more complicated. In addition both Bryks and Cerny were brought to the Prague Gestapo office at the Petschke House in August 1944. They were imperilled by a death penalty for treason by the Torgau Martial Court. Joe was recognized not only by a traitor named Preucil but also by his former wife. Their lives were saved by protest of the British government. Their standing trial was postponed till the final victory of the Wehrmacht. Both skilled escapees Bryks and Cerny were moved to the Colditz Casle nr Leipzig. On April 16, 1945 they were liberated by the American troops. Two days later F/Lt Bryks and F/O Cerny boarded a Dakota. Refuelling in Belgium they landed nr London. Afterwards they were sent to the Cosford Cz Depot.
Joe´s former wife Mary had confided to the Gestapo. She was found dead at the Prerov railway station on Apr 20, 1945.
On May 5, 1945 Cpt Bryks´ service for the Cz Forces was furthered. He was grounded for health grounds. His career of a fighter pilot was over. He went under knife again due to his bayonet injury. On May 15 Joe asked Trudie Deller to marry him. Their marriage was held in London on July 18.
Cpt. Bryks returned to his Motherland aboard a Dakota on Oct 6, 1945. Nine days later he was assigned to the Olomouc Military Aviation Academy. Trudie came from England in November. The Bryks were provided with a flat in Olomouc Muzejni St. Now Hanackeho pluku St. On Dec 12, 1945 was Joe promoted to Staff Cpt and to Major on May 10, 1946 in effect from Jan 1. On May 17 a daughter Sonia was given birth by Trudie in Olomouc. Step by step Mr. Bryks became No 1 adversary of men in arms of so called of adult education. Not only the cadets were subjected to Communist political indoctrination. In addition Joe was elected the Olomouc English Club´s Chairman.
Political situation was going from bad to worse. In 1947 was Maj Bryks barred from traveling to London to be awarded MBE there. From mid 1947 was Trudie given a job of English teacher at the local university.Mere thirteen day following the Communist coup ie on Mar 9, 1948 Maj Bryks was got holiday till the MoD´s further decision. He made a try to escape to the West but did not succeeded in. On May 1 status of his hodiday was was changed into one of waiting. Shortly after midnight of May 2, 1948 Maj Joseph Bryks was taken away from his flat by three plain clothes police officers. .Arrested on a trum-up charge and brought to trial together with A/M Janousek, Col. Chrast, Lt Cerny and the others ´Westerners´. Maj Bryks was sentenced for ten years. On Sep 1, 1948 he was made a reservist. Both Maj Bryks and Lt Cerny found themselves in a labour camp at Dolni Jiretin nr German border. Due to Joe´s rumours of a skilled escaper he was taken away to the Bory prison early April. While incarcerated here Major Bryks was charged of being involved in mutiny. His sentence was enlarged by twenty years. Joe was moved to other prisons. All his awards were confiscated by the authorities. Meanwhile both Joe´s parents and Florian were being made to join a local Co-Op Farm. Possesion of the fields and livestock heired by Florian was taken by the COF. They had not been able to meet the demand of agricultural products to be supplied. Authorities raised this amount on purpose for farmers opposing the COF. If these three had not done so they would have gone behind bars. Joe´s mother died on Apr 28, 1952. At the prison of Leopoldov a cell-mate named Faerber eyewitnessed Joe´s hitting a prison officer back. Afterwards Joe was beaten by them behind recognition. He kept defying but had had heart attack twice. He died of the third one at the labour camp of an uranium mine at Ostrov upon Ohre on Aug 11, 1957. The Ministry of Interior´s Camp Administration did not recommend to give Joe´s corpse to his family. He was cremated at Karlovy Vary and place of interring his urn had been unknown for fifty two years.
On Apr 23, 1997 Leczynski St, - a Polish participant of the Great October Bolshevik Revolution - was renamed after Bryks at the Prague Cerny Most Housing Estate. On Feb 21, 2006 a street in Slavonin a suburban district of Olomouc was named Bryksova. Joseph Bryks was fully rehabiliated not before Apr 27, 2006. He was awarded the highest Cz award - the Military Group´s White Lion Order on Oct 28, 2006. He was promoted to Brigadier on the Veterans day of 2008.
Mrs Trudie Bryks never re-married. She came to a native village of her late husband in 1991. On June 4, 1994 she unveiled a commemorative plaque dedicated to her husband added to the War Victims Memorial nr a pond at Lastany. Paid by a Local Council. Their daughter Sonia passed away after her thirty two year suffering from MS in England on June 13, 2000. Her ashes was interred in the Bryks´ tomb at the village of Bohunovice. .On July 2, 2015 Trudie unveiled a plaque on the house in Hanackeho pluku former Muzejni St. Joe had lived there till his arrest on May 2, 1948. Mrs Trudie Bryks died in Washington on April 28, 2011. Her nephew Barry Deller was in charge of bringing her urn into the Czech Rep. He and Mr Karel Bryks put it next to the Sonia´s one on July 16. Tribute was paid to Mrs Bryks by a flypast of two Gripen jets. On the day of the 100th birth anniversary of Brig Joe Bryks MBE two events were held in the afternoon. The first one in the Hanackeho pluku St. The second at the War Victims Memorial at Lastany. Apart from Mr Karel Bryks and Mr Barry Deller also Brig Libor Stefanik the Cz Air Force´s Commander was among the attendees. Tribute to the hero was paid by two Gripen pilots. Having flown past they approached from the town of Sternberk again and went skywards over Joe´s native house. Commemorative coins were made.
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R&R
Fallen Comrades Recalled by Frank Fajtl - The Mlada fronta Publ 1980
Cz airmen in 1939 - 1940 French Campaign by Joseph Vana, Jan Rail - The AVIS MNO Publ 2005
Airmen in names of the Cerny most Housing Estate - co-authored The ARTEDIT Publ 2009
Assistence of Mr Karel Bryks is appreciated.