The Great POW Escape

This is a true story.

On 24 December 1944, the German version of the Great Escape occurred in Arizona, very similar to the American and British version that happened in Germany and resulted in the movie "The Great Escape".

In 1943 the US Army opened a POW camp in what is now Popago Park in Phoenix. Today the City surrounds the Park, but at that time it was about six miles to the city limits. All the POW's were German Navy, most U-boat sailors. The officers had nice apartments and the enlisted men were required to work off the camp grounds, mostly picking citrus.

All POWs have an obligation to escape. One enlisted sailor was able to steal a map of Arizona from a barn wall; not a road map but a map of the state. From this map the leader of the escape attempt, a U-boat captain, developed a plan. They would dig a tunnel out, which was eventually 184 feet long. They constructed collapsible canvas boats. The plan was to travel to the Salt River, which does pass through Phoenix, and was about ten miles from the camp. The map showed that the Salt River crosses the desert and connects to the Colorado River. They would then take the Colorado into Mexico.

Using a holiday party as cover, 25 men successfully escaped into the desert during the night. They broke up into groups and headed for the Salt River. One seaman chose to surrender to Phoenix police the next morning. When informed of his absence, the camp CO had no idea an escape had occurred.

Now the funny part of the best laid plan took place. As the escapees arrived at the Salt Rive,r they were dumbfounded to find a large dry river bed. They were great seaman, but had no knowledge of the desert. Within a week, all but three were back at the camp. All were captured within a month. Two got to within ten miles of the Mexican border. Unlike the Germans after our Great Escape, we did not shoot them.