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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 On January 1, 1945, a pair of escaped officers decided they could go no further. Captain Kraus and his second watch officer on U-199, Lt. Helmut Drescher, had been covering up to ten miles a night, but Drescher now had a swollen foot and hobbled along using a forked stick as a crutch. In the morning they approached an isolated ranch house and knocked. When a twelve-year-old boy trailed by two much younger siblings answered the door, Kraus explained who he and Drescher were and said that they wanted to surrender to local police. The boy said his parents were away but should be home soon. Subscribe Today
The Germans made themselves at home. They brewed coffee, shared their remaining chocolate with the children, and then regaled the kids with stories about life on a U-boat. When the parents came home around eleven that morning, they found everyone sitting in the kitchen. Their son hurriedly explained the situation. The father pulled from his pocket a folded sheet of the newspaper with mug shots of the escapees. He took out a pencil, looked at Kraus and then Drescher, and drew a big X through each of their pictures. That same day, a Papago Indian discovered another pair of prisoners as they were sleeping, less than thirty miles from the Mexican border. Four days later, bounty-hunting Papagos caught another pair asleep in the same area, and an army patrol from the POW camp at Florence nabbed three more. The following day, the two captains who had been first out the tunnel—Quaet-Faslem and Guggenberger—were awakened by a group of Indian scouts. “And Captain Quaet-Faslem,” asked one of the scouts, “did you have a good sleep?” Quaet-Faslem was astonished to see that it was one of the same men who had captured him in Mexico eleven months earlier. With the capture of yet another pair of Germans two days later on January 8, only a half dozen POWs—two three-man teams—remained at large. One of the teams consisted of the “three mad boatmen,” Clarus, Günther, and Utzolino. They thought they had made good use of their boat’s canvas skin on their first day of freedom by sleeping under it and staying dry in the rain. But when they reached the banks of the Gila River four days later and started to assemble their craft, they discovered the canvas had shrunk in the rain. Then, after they shortened the wooden struts to accommodate the shrunken canvas, they found that the Gila, which had looked so large and inviting on their maps, was more mud than water. As soon as they loaded their gear into it, the boat sank to the muddy bottom. “We should have known that the Gila wasn’t much of a river,” Clarus said later. “Of course, everyone who lives in Arizona knows that.” Over the following two nights, they succeeded in floating the craft for only short stretches of the river. Finally, the trio abandoned the plan that had sustained them through so many weeks of labor back in camp. They destroyed the craft and set out on foot. A week or so later, near Gila Bend, some cowboys spotted one of them washing his underwear on the bank of an irrigation canal and called the police. For the next fortnight the whereabouts of the final trio of escapees remained a mystery. The team consisted of Capt. Jürgen Wattenberg and two of his crewmen from U-162, Walter Kozur and Johann Kremer. Wattenberg had been the senior ranking officer in the compound and quickly built a reputation as the leading troublemaker by submitting extensive lists of complaints about camp food, recreation, and anything else he could think of. The Papago Park commander referred to him as “the No. 1 Super-Nazi of this camp.” After his escape, Wattenberg delayed heading south and explored the area. Kozur and Kremer even ventured into Phoenix one night, visiting a bowling alley and enjoying a few beers. The trio holed up in a shallow cave on a slope in the mountains north of the camp almost within view of Papago Park. From there Kremer pulled off the most bizarre caper of the entire escape. Every few days he joined up with one of the work details sent outside Papago Park. He exchanged places with a friend who spent the night in the cave while Kremer sauntered back into the camp with the work detail. There, he gathered news and food. He would then either join a work detail to get out of camp, or send food out with a member of the detail and remain in the barracks. 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