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The Not-So-Great Escape: German POWs in the U.S. during WWIIBy Ronald H. Bailey | World War II | 16 comments | Print This Post | Email This Post Prisoners earned U.S. currency by creating fake Nazi paraphernalia to sell to the guards. They used sand molds and melted toothpaste tubes to turn out Iron Crosses, eagles, and other insignia. Then they painted the items with black shoe polish and scuffed them up to simulate wear as if they were the real thing. Subscribe Today
Three other Germans were engaged in another novel scheme. Capt. Wilhelm Günther and Lts. Wolfgang Clarus and Friedrich Utzolino had no intention of hiking 130 miles to the Mexican border. Looking at an Arizona map, they saw that they could walk only 30 miles or so westward and hit a river, the Gila, which flowed southwest to join the Colorado River near the border. All they needed to float down these rivers was a boat. The trio—dubbed the “three mad boatmen” by their fellow POWs—proceeded to build a flatboat big enough to carry themselves and their gear. From scavenged pieces of lumber they fashioned the struts of a wooden frame. Canvas and tar for the skin were obtained from the camp under the ruse that the roof of one of the barracks needed repair and the prisoners would gladly do the work. The boatmen designed their craft so that it could be folded up and carried in separate parcels, none to exceed eighteen inches—the maximum width that could fit easily through the tunnel. Much of their work was done openly: guards thought it was just another time-killing handicraft project. The excavators, meanwhile, labored every night in the tunnel into early December. The final fifty feet were the most difficult to dig, as the tunnel plunged as far down as fourteen feet to go under a drainage ditch and the adjoining roadbed. Diggers worked by the light of a bare bulb strung on an electric wire connected to the bathhouse socket. The insulation covering the wire was badly worn in places, and everyone suffered painful shocks as they bumped against it in the tight confines of the tunnel, which was less than three feet in diameter. On December 20, the tunnel measured precisely 178 feet long. In the vertical shaft at the far end, Quaet-Faslem and Guggenberger pushed a coal stove poker upward through the ground and into the air. Then, through the tiny hole, they pushed a stick with a little rag tied on the end. Prisoners on the roof of one of the barracks saw this flag appear in just the right place near the electric pole and let out muted cheers. The completed exit was covered and disguised with two shallow wooden boxes containing dirt and grass to blend into the landscape. Three days later, on the afternoon and evening of Saturday, December 23, next-door Compound 1B erupted in a noisy party. The noncoms there drank forbidden schnapps distilled from citrus fruit, waved a German flag, shouted, and burst into Nazi marching songs. Ostensibly they were celebrating news of Hitler’s last-gasp offensive in Belgium, the Battle of the Bulge. Under cover of this diversion, the escape began through the bathhouse. The escapers proceeded in ten teams of two or three men each, some carrying packs laden with nearly one hundred pounds of spare clothing, packages of bread crumbs and other food, medical supplies, maps, ersatz credentials, and cigarettes. Shortly before nine o’clock in the evening, the first team—Quaet-Faslem and Guggenberger—descended the entrance ladder and began struggling through the tunnel on elbows, stomach, and knees, pushing their packs ahead of them. The 178-foot journey took a little more than forty minutes. Guggenberger climbed the exit ladder and cautiously lifted the cover. A light rain was falling as he and his companion emerged into a clump of bushes and dashed down into the waist-deep ice-cold water of the nearby Crosscut Canal. By 2:30 a.m. all twenty-five prisoners—twelve officers and thirteen enlisted men—had exited the tunnel and were making their way through a hard rain outside the wire of Papago Park. Colleagues who stayed behind closed up both ends of the tunnel. Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to
            Tags: 20th - 21st Century, Historical Conflicts, World War II
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16 Comments to “The Not-So-Great Escape: German POWs in the U.S. during WWII”
I thoroughly enjoyed this account of a little-known incident. I’d like to find out more about German POWs interred in the states. Of course, this story greatly benefits from the bad guys getting caught!
By Steve on Jun 26, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Very much enjoyed this story. It was also interesting due to the fact that I never really heard about POW camps in the US even though I heard bits and pieces about them.
By Pegasus053 on Jul 5, 2008 at 1:17 am
This story brought back memories of my Mother, a former WAC from Pennsylvania who passed away in 2000. She was stationed at a bomber base in Texas where German POW’s did manual labor. She said that where she worked she could see POW’s working in a warehouse that was attached to her office. One day she saw a crate about to fall on a POW’s head, and yelled a warning to him in Pennsylvania Dutch, which saved him from harm. Weeks later, one of the guards asked her if she would accept a gift from that POW in gratitude. It was a carved rendition of a chalet, which unfortunately has not survived the years.
By Rick on Jul 8, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Hi out there.
This storry was published in about 1972 in the book “The Faustball-Tunnel”. My grandfather told us many times of this adventure….
I like this short article. Thank’s Ronald.
By Utzolino on Aug 2, 2008 at 3:49 pm
My good friend, Steve Hoza, a WWII historian and expert on German POW camps in Arizona in WWII, self-published a book about the twenty-six POW camps in Arizona. There is a chapter in his book about the “harrowing” Camp Papago escape. Steve speaks fulent German and is still in touch with several of the POWs’ families in Germany.
By C. Sachs on Aug 12, 2008 at 9:31 pm
ww11 Luftaffe only prison camp in Arizona.
I had a gun shop in phoenix and Scottsdale for about 15 years. I had a lot of ww11 artifacts displayed and some one brought in a aluminum propeller for a WW L 5 plane I could tell this had been repaired and shortened, most likely it was discarded and no longer airworthy. it was mounted on a wood plac, it had a brass plac that said presented to ?? comander of the luftaffe prisoners of ww11 maney thanks from the prisoners date??
the brass plac disapered no idea who took it or when but i have been donating all my ww11 stufff to a aviators rest home and a museum in colorado. this included a pick up truck full of items from Joe Foss arizona
i would like to replace the brass plac on the prop but i need to know what camp and who was the comander and when they released the prisoners. I know it would not be original but it will get the storey told and preserve the unit for all
By snap lemon on Oct 16, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Does anyone know of a WW2 camp in OHIO? I have a friend whose
Grandfather Theodore Diesslin who told him as a child of his
experience as POW in Ohio. He was a captured soldier of the
German Army.
By Paul Baker on Nov 5, 2008 at 7:02 pm
My dad was first generation German-American, born in Ohio. During the war Dad served in the Army at a German POW camp in the midwest–possibly Michigan (?). He taught the Germans to speak English, and said the POWs were pleasant company. The one remark that will stay with me forever was that Dad liked serving in the Army post-Depression because it was the first time in his life that he had gotten enough to eat.
My dad was the first in his family to have only three “American” names: first, middle, and last. All others had the traditional four German names: first, middle, middle, last. I was told that after WWI, Germans in America distanced themselves from German traditions by naming their children with Anglicized names–more specifically by giving them a Biblical or Christian middle name as my father had.
By Second Generation on Nov 23, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Enjoyed the story. My grandfather was a german conscript who was captured in France. He then was sent to England to a POW camp for a short time, then was transferred to one in Maine. He escaped once and went and saw Niagara Falls before he was recaptured. He said a 10 year old american girl would come to the camp and pass them potatoes through the barbed wire fence.
By Yvonne Toole on Nov 24, 2008 at 5:02 pm
I cant believe how unmotivated most of the escapers were-giving themselves up???
Obviously the camp was too comfortable and few of the germans really believed in the war.
What a contrast to allied escapes in europe and the far east.
I have read before of black servicemen riding in trains disbeleiving of german prisoners in transit in the best carriages and eating the best food at diners on route.
By humphrey on Jan 20, 2009 at 4:31 am
That story was awesome! Thanks so much, I laughed and grinned through most of the escapee’s exploits! Nice to hear they were not desperate killers when on the loose. I don’t think Al Queda escapees would be so nice to those kids but I could be wrong.
By Ralph In Kuwait on Mar 27, 2009 at 1:30 am
There was a POW camp at Camp Perry, near Sandusky OH.
By David on Apr 11, 2009 at 12:35 am
Are there any movies out about the German pows in Arisona and the “not-so great escape”"
By cindy peters on May 17, 2009 at 1:41 pm
I just came across this site after reading about Monopoly helping American prisoners in Germany. My genealogy group just addressed this subject in our county, and it is interesting to see any other stories about escape attempts in the U.S. I don’t think many people know about the POW camps, or are not interested.
By Katie on Sep 18, 2009 at 5:53 pm