# POWs **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 16, 2006, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pows/380620 "2006-11-16T02:32:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jeffr062](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f04885/32.png) [@Jeffr062](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeffr062)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pows/380620/1 "2006-11-16T02:32:12Z")
I was looking at this site [http://home.arcor.de/kriegsgefangene/usa/index.html](http://home.arcor.de/kriegsgefangene/usa/index.html) about Axis POWs in America when I read this: _Escape: The prisoners knew that they hardly could reach their native country after a successful escape out of the camp. The Provost Marshal General noticed: "1369 escape attempts were made until March 1st, 1945 but only 12 prisoners of war (6 Germans and 6 Italians) were in liberty to this day. The punishment after the recapture consisted in detention and water and bread for 30 days._ Are they saying that these 12 men did make it home or were just never found and presumed dead? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pows/380620/2 "2006-11-16T03:14:41Z")
They had escaped but had not been recaptured. Maybe a few made it home, a few died, and a few were in hiding somewhere. It would be useful to know what date the Provost Marshall General made the statement; they 12 may have been accounted for after then. ---
**Author:** ![Julius\_Henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pows/380620/3 "2006-11-16T03:20:33Z")
I read a book many years ago (probably _Nazi Prisoners of War in America_ by Arnold Krammer, but don’t quote me on that) about German POWs held in America. It said that at the end of the war there were 6 escaped prisoners who had not been found. The search never stopped and eventually 4 were found still living in the US. Each of these men were required to leave the country for a set period of time and then were allowed to legally immigrate here. A fifth man was found in Germany. The sixth was never found. Sorry, can’t help you at all with the Italians. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pows/380620/4 "2006-11-16T14:40:56Z")
Some of those who escaped from POW camps in the U.S. had done precious little study of North American geography beforehand. There’s one famous story (I’m too lazy to Google a cite) about a couple of German prisoners who escaped from a camp in the midwest – Oklahoma or Nebraska, I believe. They had been told that Mexico was only a couple of states away, and assumed that American states were comparable in size to those in Germany. After walking for days they learned that they’d barely even covered a fraction of the distance and gave themselves up.