The Largest Axis POW Escape on American Soil: The Great Papago Escape (1944)

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ธ.ค. 2024

ความคิดเห็น • 89

  • @dawndickson2156
    @dawndickson2156 3 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    Can just imagine their faces upon reaching a dry river bed! All that effort for nothing! Fascinating piece of history. A German accent is hard to hide. Especially in the dessert. Thank you for your research and sharing with we history buffs. Greetings from Pennsylvania.

  • @DaveMurrow
    @DaveMurrow 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Cool history! I just biked around Papago Park this past weekend, and drove up 62nd St from the Park up to Thomas Rd., without knowing what I drove past!

  • @arizonaalchemy7572
    @arizonaalchemy7572 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    I am here in Arizona. A history buff I decided to go explore the old Papago P.O.W. Camp grounds. Bits and peices of the camp still remain on site. Read all of the local details of the camp's history. Started a search on here for vlogs. Thank you, Sir. Your version is more concise than what I have read here. Well done.

  • @oslonorway547
    @oslonorway547 3 ปีที่แล้ว +22

    The kayak guys and the dude who badly needed to do his laundry made me laugh.

    • @melburns4378
      @melburns4378 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      A good story, told well.

  • @simunooi5306
    @simunooi5306 3 ปีที่แล้ว +25

    Reminds me of Oberleutnant Franz von Werra, a Luftwaffe pilot shot down over Britain and transferred to a POW camp in Canada. He was the only POW to successfully escape back to Germany during the war. There was a movie made about his exploits called The One that Got Away.

    • @HoH
      @HoH  3 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      Hi Simun, a while back you suggested a story about Arthur Chin - I just finished editing it and it should be online next week! This is another great suggestion

    • @martinsparrow150
      @martinsparrow150 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      A good movie

    • @simunooi5306
      @simunooi5306 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@HoH wow! Thank you so much.

    • @coling3957
      @coling3957 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      it didn't do him much good. though he got back to do some more fighting for Hitler he was killed late in 1941 at Vlissingen... his plane crashed and his body was never recovered.

    • @typxxilps
      @typxxilps 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@coling3957 Who cares about that ? If you made it home to germany you had no choice cause every POW was under military duty in the second of return ...
      And the story of his escapes (the 3rd was finally successfully) are worth to be told for sure. Not a lot POW made it ever home by escape so that is a story that deserves to be told on a history channel - at least when you cover the unsuccessfull attempts.
      I hope to see the story of "Baron Franz von Werra" being told like the story of "Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen", better know as the Red Baron of WW 1.

  • @lepkeb2252
    @lepkeb2252 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    The very good treatment of German pows on American soil was a bone of contention with the American public that referred to these POW camps as the fritz Ritz.
    The pows had better food than most American civilians at the time who were subject to rationing.
    The last German escaped POW did not turn himself in until the 1980s.

  • @BatchelderPatrick
    @BatchelderPatrick 3 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    So many Americans have no idea of these stories. If only I had known to ask my mother about them before she - and that generation - died. Some German POW's in Texas were simply set free after the war, married local women and spent their lives here - as if the War had never happened. Your videos should be shown in American history classes in schools.

    • @HoH
      @HoH  3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Thank you! It is exactly what I intend my videos to be: bring to light forgotten history.

    • @Idahoguy10157
      @Idahoguy10157 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      If a POW married an American woman he’d have a better chance of staying in the USA. There was a lot of this with Italian POWs. During the WW2 German POWs were hired out as laborers. Often in agriculture. With so many American men serving overseas these romances did happen

    • @arizonaalchemy7572
      @arizonaalchemy7572 10 หลายเดือนก่อน

      agreed.

  • @bradkempton7905
    @bradkempton7905 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I live about 120 miles out roughly 3 hours East of where Papago prison is (its now a park and zoo). The terrain the escapees had to cross to get to Mexico is worse than you can imagine. It's only about 150 miles, but it's 150 miles of pure Arizona desert where everything is either trying to bite you, poke you, or sting you. That's on top of the horrific heat which routinely reaches 115° F during the summer and below freezing during the winter. My hat goes off to the POWs just for attempting it.

  • @thomasswafford250
    @thomasswafford250 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I was reading about some of the P.O.W. camps in my home state of Tennessee. One German prisoner was a fan of Country Music (not me). He escaped to go to the Grand Ole Opry and came back. One morning he was standing at the front gate waiting to be let inside.

  • @bradkempton7905
    @bradkempton7905 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Being from Arizona, i always forget how hard it is to pronounce the different names of places here. Most of the names aren't pronounced anything like you would think looking at the spelling. The Gila River for example is pronounced as "Hela" instead of the Gi sound is should make. Tucson which is s city is pronounced as Tooson. The names are a mixture of Spanish and Native American languages. Marly Apache in the South and Navajo in the North.

  • @mbryson2899
    @mbryson2899 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    I had no idea the U.S. kept POWs in Arizona. Good place for it, especially in the 1940s.

    • @HoH
      @HoH  3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      The location certainly did the trick. None of them managed to escape the desert - and it wasn't for lack of trying.

    • @mbryson2899
      @mbryson2899 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      @@HoH , I've done day hiking, easy stuff, in the Phoenix area. That some of them made it so close to the border speaks volumes about their determination.

    • @HoH
      @HoH  3 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      @@mbryson2899 it probably helped the US didn't use a 'shoot first, ask questions later' policy, like the Allies faced in German-occupied territories or Germans faced in the Soviet Union.

    • @NathanDudani
      @NathanDudani 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Gotta work those cotton fields

  • @ftdefiance1
    @ftdefiance1 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Papago Park was located about 4 miles from downtown Phoenix and close to the towns of Scottsdale and Tempe.

  • @randyalanko4903
    @randyalanko4903 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Late to the party, but my father was on the last victim of the U162 Capt Wattenberg. When the Star of Oregon was sunk, the U boat drew near the life boats and asked for the Captain. The sailors said he went down with the ship., so Wattenberg asked about the ship, cargo, etc. Finally he indicated the direction to land (Trinidad) and said "Have a good voyage, boys"!

  • @negativecharisma7583
    @negativecharisma7583 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    As an arizonan i can confirm we have a frighteningly liberal definition of a "river"

  • @j1st633
    @j1st633 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Your narrative is always educational, and entertaining. Thanks.

    • @HoH
      @HoH  3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Thank you kindly!

  • @DardanellesBy108
    @DardanellesBy108 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    I’ve only heard the story in general, this is the first I’ve heard the interesting details. Thanks!
    The part about the street cleaner meeting the last escaped POW made me think of Hollis P. Wood from the movie “1941”: “Jesus Palomino, a Nazi!”
    And that part about the Arizonian definition of a River can also be applied in parts of California. Too bad, how sad for those kayak guys. They tried so hard.

  • @laurakuhn8743
    @laurakuhn8743 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    I live in Phoenix. FYI Tucson is about 90 miles South of Phoenix. Mexico is about 90 miles further South.
    Tucson is pronounced Two son
    Gila River, Gila is pronounced : He lah
    Piestawa Peak was then known as Squaw Peak

    • @maitaimik
      @maitaimik 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      But for a German native he speaks good English, local and native English pronunciation is notoriously difficult for Germans, see war time UK pronunciation tests, with words like Gloucester, Worcestershire or Bicester. Even Americans have difficulty pronouncing certain British names, e.g. the recently departed HRH Duke of Edinburgh which I have heard massacred on US media from Edinborg to Edinberg to Edinburr to Edinboro but rarely thee correct Edinburrah.

    • @laurakuhn8743
      @laurakuhn8743 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@maitaimik You are quite correct.

  • @goonigal7758
    @goonigal7758 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Thanks for this story! He would have never found a train station in Phoenix. We don't have one 🙂 It’s in Maricopa 60 miles south. Argh, snakes are enough to keep me from hiking, here. They had to escape at New Year, that's the coldest time here. Yep, good old Gila River is mostly dry river bed. The desert is the reason, security was not rigid. Great story.

    • @Spiff99
      @Spiff99 ปีที่แล้ว

      To be fair, the Phoenix Union Station was operating at the time. It opened in 1923 and is located around 3rd Ave between Jefferson and Lincoln. Used to have streetcars in Phoenix back then too. AmTrack stopped service to the Phoenix Union Station in I996 and it was only used a few times since as a station. Then it was turned into a data center by Sprint. Think they sold it off and it is not currently in use, though the building is still there and on the NHRA.
      Kinda crazy how have to go to Maricopa to catch the train 😒

    • @TheLittlered1961
      @TheLittlered1961 ปีที่แล้ว

      ​@@Spiff99 I think trains have been running there before then. My great grandfather visited Phoenix in 1912. He came from the Midwest as a traveling salesman. His hotel was surrounded by a bunch of drunk Indians.

  • @TheLittlered1961
    @TheLittlered1961 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I am going to over look the pronunciations since many have called you on that. The mountain that the captain escaped to, I believe was Squaw Peak. They may have renamed it since I was there. I was caught doing, let's say adult activities on the road up to it by the cops. 😂😂😂
    As far as the largest man hunt in AZ history, I do not think so. I believe that was in 1918 hunting for the Powers boys. Over 5000 people hunted for them. I have been to the cabin where the shoot out took place.
    BTW, I have ridden a bike to Papago park and Squaw peak from my house. I didn't know about the history that those places held. For that I thank you.

  • @benwilson6145
    @benwilson6145 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I have done some more research into the escape some of the Graf Spee from Argentina. and can add this
    Chapter XIII. ESCAPE OF INTERNED ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE OFFICERS FROM SOUTH AMERICA
    After the scuttling of the Admiral Graf Spee, Wattenberg was brought to Buenos Aires on December 18, 1939, for internment with 1,054 officers and men. The officers were required to give their word of honor not to leave the city without written permission from the police authorities, but refused to do so. The German Embassy attempted to have the Graf Spee survivor's declared "shipwrecked" to avoid internment, but the fact that the Germans had made arrangements for vessels to pick up survivors before the Admiral Graf Spee sailed for the last time caused the Argentine Government to insist on internment.
    By March 16, 1940, 31 officers and men had escaped; it is believed that Wattenberg escaped on April 16. At the end of July 1942 the number had risen to 120. The German Embassy provided forged passports, and other false documents were procured by a German resident of Buenos Aires named Alfonso Haun, who later confessed his participation to Argentine police. The exact route taken to Peru by Wattenberg is not known, but planes, busses, and horses for crossing the Andes were used by various other prisoners. At Callao, Peru, he embarked on the S. S. Rakuyo Maru, a Japanese steamer, which stopped at Los Angeles on June 12, 1940. Spanish and Japanese vessels, as well as German blockade runners, were used by escaping prisoners. Wattenberg reached Germany without further incident, and before long it was reported that he had joined the U-boat arm.
    In other research I have found is that many German national's returned from Japan to Germany via the Trans Siberian Railway.

  • @AmericanDefender
    @AmericanDefender 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I've lived in AZ my entire life and never knew this!

  • @freebirdw6187
    @freebirdw6187 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

    What a story! This played out like a reverse Hogans Heroes episode.

  • @darrellsmith4204
    @darrellsmith4204 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Good effort on pronouncing all those desert southwestern names. You missed some of them, but to this day I still refer to the WW1 battles at "Wipers".. lol

    • @lepkeb2252
      @lepkeb2252 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I think he mispronounced Tucson.

  • @oslonorway547
    @oslonorway547 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    3:09 Stalin be like: My gulags can fix that.

  • @SuenosDeLaNoche
    @SuenosDeLaNoche 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Tucson (pr. TOO sahn)
    Gila (pr. HEE lah)
    I appreciate your video. It's a fascinating story. Thank you.

  • @user-lw7om1sg1m
    @user-lw7om1sg1m 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Very interesting stories many thanks

  • @samuelmaltry6727
    @samuelmaltry6727 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Phenomenal story.

  • @amaccama3267
    @amaccama3267 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Even though you know how it's going to end I still found myself hoping that one would make it. 👍✊👍 Great story.

  • @davidelack8809
    @davidelack8809 ปีที่แล้ว

    Two of the barracks from papago park pow camp are in the back of the City of Tempe city yard on Priest and the river bottom. Purchased by a former mayors mother with the idea of creating a musuem. Alas there they sit rotting away

  • @derekbury7262
    @derekbury7262 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    How did they cut such a perfect opening through concrete with only a shovel?

    • @The105ODST
      @The105ODST 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      German efficiency at their finest.

    • @BHuang92
      @BHuang92 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Not all concrete hardens evenly. Some can be brittle by the environment or was not cured well when applied.

    • @Davey-Boyd
      @Davey-Boyd 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      slowly

  • @typxxilps
    @typxxilps 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    If someone considers that something like shuffling a tunnel is impossible
    then it will be a challenge for germans to proof that they can.
    What can you loose in a prison camp ?
    Not to forget: many had relatives on american soil ... same roots, same blood so this was their chance number #1 to find support.

  • @JMark-zk5pj
    @JMark-zk5pj 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Not sure how "comfortable" it really was, Phoenix in the summer with no AC is no joke.

  • @downloadgoblin
    @downloadgoblin 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    6:23 “tuck-son” 🤣

  • @typxxilps
    @typxxilps 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    You have missed to tell the story of Wattenberg before the outbreak in the camp in the homicide of his comrade Werner Drechsler, who deserved to be mentioned what he had done for the americans.
    Drechsler had been beaten and hanged by 7 comrades for being a spy for the americans which he had been before. Wattenberg was the leader of the camp and an other officer "Ritter" had like other before complained that he is a Nazi leader putting other under pressure by accusing them being a spy like Ritter.
    Papago Park was the US camp for all german navy officers and men so it was tough for Ritter as officer to get out of there into another prison camp. You might look up the whole story of Wattenberg and tell the rest of the story based on the court trial against the comrades and Ritter's story who had been twice in prisoncamps with Wattenberg where he had feared for his life and accused Wattenberg.
    You can find out more about Werner Drechsler in the english wikipedia where the description is rather short and then use the link to the german one which you most likely can read too. The american military was aware about the risks Drechsler was opposed and had made a mistake later cause Drechsler never should have gotten in contact with other navy comrades. But they had thrown him into the hell of a pure german navy camp.
    This story shows the other side of Wattenberg cause this story till now is more or less a hero like refugee escape story - but Wattenberg was quite the opposite: a convinced Nazi
    Guggenberg is another figure to talk about cause his boat U513 was sunk 100 km away from brazils coastline which was found in 2011 or by a private campaign of a brasilian searching the sub. The german TV station ZDF had made a 45 minute documentary about the U513, its fate and Guggenberger who became a rear admiral in the Bundesmarine in West Germany after being trained in the Newport at Naval War College. He became commander in chief of the allied forces in north Europe AFNORTH.
    Assuming you might understand german too you can find this on youtube if you search for "Das Geheimnis von U 513" and might activate subtitles. The english translation of the title might be "The secret of U513" and was one documentary in a series of "Secrets of the 2nd WW" ... I guess there might be an english version too cause usually these are produced for the international market too.

    • @typxxilps
      @typxxilps 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      There is an english book about the story of Werner Drechsler that tells the whole story and how the investigations about the homicide ended successfully.
      All 7 men were hanged after WW2 cause when the germans became aware of the court decision they promised to kill 7 american POW . Therefore the hanging had been postponed and executed long after the capitulation.
      You can read excerpts on google books ...
      Booktitle: Death at Papago Park POW Camp
      Another source for free pictures is uboatarchive net if you search for U-118. You will find a lot of further details like his heritage and (copyright free) pictures of arrival and during transfer in a bus.

    • @sid2112
      @sid2112 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Good story, your English isn't terrible, I could figure it out easily enough. Hehehe I gotta hand it to them, a bunch of navy boys escaping into the desert. I've been to that desert, I've walked those lands. That would not be an easy thing to do.

  • @blitzy3244
    @blitzy3244 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Never knew about this

  • @kenttucson2830
    @kenttucson2830 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Tucson is pronounced Tuson, but no worries. Great video.

  • @theodorecardenas2889
    @theodorecardenas2889 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Tucson is pronounced TOO-sawn

  • @fatcatscooter2584
    @fatcatscooter2584 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I go by the monument every once in a while (Near the Arcadia part of town). Not the best area any more, full of homeless. One thing you did not mention is how freakin' cold it is in December here in Phoenix. It may be nice during the day, but the temps drop super fast at night. And if it's raining in December, it SUCKS! That's why they loss the war! :-)

  • @farginbastage805
    @farginbastage805 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

    They returned after the war and founded Haus Murphy's restaurant in Glendale lol

  • @benwilson6145
    @benwilson6145 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    I am very curious of how he got from Argentina to Germany, I am sure its an interesting story. The interesting story I read was about his pet pig Douglas which swam from a sailing ship Florence M. Douglas that he sank.

    • @noobster4779
      @noobster4779 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Propably Spain
      Argentinia->Spain->Occupied France
      As Argentinia had a big german immigrant community and spain was facist anyway it shouldnt have been to hard to get a ride on a boat for a german. And ones in Spain you could go to the german embassy and get a train ticket home

  • @sherirobinson5112
    @sherirobinson5112 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Tucson is not tuck-sun, it's too-s-on...

  • @coling3957
    @coling3957 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Tuc-son is pronounced TWO-son .... :D

    • @HoH
      @HoH  3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Thanks! As a non-native speaker some pronunciations are quite surprising!

    • @typxxilps
      @typxxilps 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@HoH I had written a comment above about the other stories of Camp Papago that happened before the escape like the fact that the men had killed or hanged a comrade for being a spy.
      And Wattenberg was accused to be the commander who had given that order that "a person should never be heard again".
      It is a longer comment ... about that camp and its most known inmates story like the fate of U-513 commanded by Guggenberger.

    • @HoH
      @HoH  3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@typxxilps For some reason I cannot find the comment/ it doesn't show up in my notifications

    • @coling3957
      @coling3957 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@HoH its all thanks to country and western songs... :) thanks for a great video.

    • @coling3957
      @coling3957 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @Scumfuck McDoucheface depends on who is singing a c&w song about how their pickup truck broke down and their dawg died :P son and sun are pronounced the same in English..

  • @NNN_613
    @NNN_613 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    This was not a "great" escape. They hiked around the desert for a few days and were put on bread and water rations as punishment. Not exactly dramatic consequences.

  • @cshamble
    @cshamble 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    What I can't work out is if the tunnel was that narrow, how the hell did they get the kayak through it? Clever people these germans :)

    • @ericsimpson1176
      @ericsimpson1176 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      I had read they just had some boards ,that might explain it

  • @brianrajala7671
    @brianrajala7671 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    "The Great Escape", but without the murder of escapees. Who knew?

  • @napoleonibonaparte7198
    @napoleonibonaparte7198 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I read it as pepega...

  • @TrueBlueKing
    @TrueBlueKing 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    i can only imagine it from their perspective. mannnnnnnnn, every vid you got is H. A. M.,

    • @HoH
      @HoH  3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I hope that's a compliment!

    • @TrueBlueKing
      @TrueBlueKing 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@HoH H. A. M. very good compliment, binge watching your channel. man, great vids perfect explanation, man, you got it. love your channel.

    • @HoH
      @HoH  3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@TrueBlueKing Many thanks! 😀

  • @jovanweismiller7114
    @jovanweismiller7114 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Tucson is pronounce 'Too-sahn'.

  • @Neuroguy1
    @Neuroguy1 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    OK, not being mean but Tucson is pronounced Too soan. Gila is Spanish the G is pronounced like H. Hila Don't feel bad. If you are not from the Southwest it would be difficult.

  • @jimmyyu2184
    @jimmyyu2184 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Tucson is pronounced Two-song or Too-song. =)

    • @HoH
      @HoH  3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Thanks!

    • @ekesandras1481
      @ekesandras1481 ปีที่แล้ว

      only in English

  • @AllenSymonds
    @AllenSymonds 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Tucson is pronounced too-sawn not tuck-sun. You really need to correct this oversight.- House of Geography