# You are an Escaped POW in WWII Germany! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 22, 2008, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-an-escaped-pow-in-wwii-germany/464685 "2008-09-22T15:37:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-an-escaped-pow-in-wwii-germany/464685/41 "2008-09-24T17:06:05Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > If an escaped POW did make it to Sweden or Switzerland or Spain, would that make it a “home run”? My understanding was that the neutral countries didn’t return Axis or Allied military personnel to their home countries. Wouldn’t he just be interned for the duration of the war? My father was part of a B-17 crew shot down over France in '43. The Resistance helped him & a few other crew members over the Pyrenees into Spain, then to the British Embassy in Madrid. Next, Gibraltar to England. Afterwards he came to the USA to train air crews–& to meet & marry my mother. None of us kids heard this directly. He was called back to active duty for the Cold War & did not survive. Captured Allied air crews went to camps run by the Luftwaffe. I believe RAF & USAAF personnel fared better than Soviet airmen. Chuck Yeager was one of the few who got back into action over Europe. Most who evaded capture were thought to know too much to risk capture again. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-an-escaped-pow-in-wwii-germany/464685/42 "2008-09-24T20:26:54Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > And there is a documentary on the History Channel about how Ireland harboured some Nazis- with Govt complicity -after WW 2 (if not complicity, being less than thorough into finding out who they were). That is OT though. “Harboured some Nazis” is very misleading, if it’s referring to the people I’m thinking of. They were Belgians, who had collaborated with the occupiers. They did not have blood on their hands and were not suspected of war-crimes. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-an-escaped-pow-in-wwii-germany/464685/43 "2008-09-24T21:42:25Z")
> [@garius](#): > > Franz wasn’t the only one to get out on the German side of things either - **Walter Manhard** made it as well, although no one knew it at the time! Well, I guess it’s true what they say - a good Manhard to find. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-an-escaped-pow-in-wwii-germany/464685/44 "2008-09-24T21:49:45Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > Most who evaded capture were thought to know too much to risk capture again. They didn’t explain that to my dad or tell him nobody on the base was to talk to any escapees lest they reveal too much about who helped them. Before he was sent back home he thought people were shunning him because he had done something wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Skylark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Skylark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skylark)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-an-escaped-pow-in-wwii-germany/464685/45 "2008-09-25T01:49:11Z")
A year or so ago I remember reading an article about an American WW2 vet who had ended up in a German POW camp mid-way through the war, transferred to another one on an eastern side, when the Russians came he escaped and ended up as part of their outfit, and eventually found the Americans again when the two sides armies met. \*This isn’t uncommon in big wars. Many of the defenders in Normandy weren’t German, and quite a few were actually Korean. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-an-escaped-pow-in-wwii-germany/464685/46 "2008-09-25T02:23:26Z")
Wouldn’t the timing of it all be a factor? I would think that escape became easier (although still extremely difficult) as the war bore down on the Germans and their resources. It would have been far easier I’d guess in late 1944 than in 1942, for instance, with disarray on the part of the German forces working in your favor. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-an-escaped-pow-in-wwii-germany/464685/47 "2008-09-26T19:45:23Z")
Well you could always get out the inflatable raft and row to Sweeden. Maybe a trio of Sweedish girl scouts will find you on the beach. ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-an-escaped-pow-in-wwii-germany/464685/48 "2008-09-26T19:58:35Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > “Harboured some Nazis” is very misleading, if it’s referring to the people I’m thinking of. They were Belgians, who had collaborated with the occupiers. They did not have blood on their hands and were not suspected of war-crimes. I’ve seen this documentary, and it refers to, among others, the Interior Minister of the Nazi puppet state of Croatia, responsible for rounding up Jews and minorities there; and the leader of a Breton nationalist movement which joined the SS in Brittany and carried out atrocities against the French population there. Neither were Belgians, and they certainly did have blood on their hands. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-an-escaped-pow-in-wwii-germany/464685/49 "2008-09-26T22:33:56Z")
> [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](#): > > I’ve seen this documentary, and it refers to, among others, the Interior Minister of the Nazi puppet state of Croatia, responsible for rounding up Jews and minorities there; and the leader of a Breton nationalist movement which joined the SS in Brittany and carried out atrocities against the French population there. Neither were Belgians, and they certainly did have blood on their hands. Ah. I hadn’t heard about those people coming to Ireland. If the Irish government or people were complicit in helping them to evade justice, that’s certainly nothing to be proud of. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-an-escaped-pow-in-wwii-germany/464685/50 "2008-09-28T04:05:09Z")
About German POW’s, some were housed here in Topeka during WWII. During the day some were sent out to farms west of town to work. My grandfather’s brothers got help from them, since they could speak fluent German, as their parents spoke German in the home. Being right in the middle of the country there was little chance of escape. Grandpa said his brother Walter told him most of the guys were happy to be away from the fighting. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-an-escaped-pow-in-wwii-germany/464685/51 "2008-09-28T09:06:17Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > Ah. I hadn’t heard about those people coming to Ireland. If the Irish government or people were complicit in helping them to evade justice, that’s certainly nothing to be proud of. Sounds like an idea for a new thread. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-an-escaped-pow-in-wwii-germany/464685/52 "2008-09-29T01:36:58Z")
Some German POWs did OK for themselves: [Love across enemy lines: First 'traitor' bride and her German PoW mark diamond wedding | Daily Mail Online](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-475365/Love-enemy-lines-First-traitor-bride-German-PoW-mark-diamond-wedding.html) ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-an-escaped-pow-in-wwii-germany/464685/53 "2008-09-29T05:27:56Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > About German POW’s, some were housed here in Topeka during WWII. During the day some were sent out to farms west of town to work. My grandfather’s brothers got help from them, since they could speak fluent German, as their parents spoke German in the home. > > Being right in the middle of the country there was little chance of escape. Grandpa said his brother Walter told him most of the guys were happy to be away from the fighting. Back when the Hitler Channel was worthy of the name, they had a program on the German POWs kept in the US. The Germans were _shocked_ at how well they were treated (seems we adhered to some kind of conventions or something) and most of them didn’t really think much about escaping (After all, where could they go?), but a few did. However, almost of all of them were rounded up in short order (accents gave them away, it seems). And while it details an account of a World War **One** escape, [Geoffrey Pyke’s _To Ruhleben and Back_](http://books.google.com/books?id=YKcMAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Pyke&as_brr=1&ei=yGHgSPzfCZb0ygTopuSsBw) is an entertaining read about a newspaper correspondant sent to Germany, who get’s captured, and has to escape. Pyke was what the Brits call a “boffin” and during the Second World War designed the [Weasel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M29_Weasel) and the [Habakkuk](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Habakkuk) among other things. He’s credited with being the driving force behind the British socialized medicine after the war before he committed suicide. His nephew, also a bit of a boffin, I’m told, appeared in the Thomas Dolby video _She Blinded Me With Science_ (he’s the old guy who says “Science!” a lot). ---
**Author:** ![jimigorilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/edb3f5/32.png) [@jimigorilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimigorilla)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-an-escaped-pow-in-wwii-germany/464685/54 "2008-09-29T09:34:15Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Interesting piece of trivia: Amongst Allied POWs, the slang term for a completely successful escape (in which the escapee managed to get to Switzerland/Sweden/France/Portugal, and thus back home) was a “Home run”. > > Myself, I’d be heading for either Sweden or Vichy France; Sweden being Neutral and Vichy France being full of people who could help me continue my escape to Spain (and thus Portugal) or North Africa, which would be a good place to spend the rest of the War, away from the shooting… North Africa? El Aalamein maybe? LOL ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-an-escaped-pow-in-wwii-germany/464685/55 "2008-09-29T10:53:59Z")
> [@jimigorilla](#): > > North Africa? El Aalamein maybe? LOL I was thinking of the Spanish Sahara, Libya, or Tunisia. And El Alamein was in 1942, so anytime after that Egypt would not be a silly place to be making a run for. Although I’d probably head for Turkey myself- it’s going to be easier to get to Turkey than it is to Egypt, I’d wager. ---
**Author:** ![joshuaslong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@joshuaslong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joshuaslong)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-an-escaped-pow-in-wwii-germany/464685/56 "2008-10-02T14:42:15Z")
Look up Mad Jack Churchill, this guy was crazy. He was a commando who got some strange joy out of playing the bagpipes during amphibious assualts, killing germans with a two handed sword, and shootng machine gunners with a bow and arrow. He was captured and taken to a POW camp. During an air raid he crawled away carrying a turnip and a coffee can. He then proceeded to WALK to Italy, where he met up with allied forces. He thought the biggest regret of the war was when the US bombed Hiroshima. Not because he was a humanitarian, but because if it weren’t for those “damned Yankees” he could have kept the war going for another ten years. Try this one too. Jumpin Joe Beryle was parachuted three times by himself into occupied France to deliver gold to the resistance movements. After taking the initiative to blow up a radio station before coming back to England, he was captured. We was interogated by the SS and beaten into a coma. When he woke up he saw a German nurse and asked if she were an angel. When she replied in German he said he knew it couldn’t be heaven, because no one speaks german there. He was able to escape and he decided to walk East. After being turned in by some German civilians he was recaptured, but escaped again, and walked on until he met up with the Russian Army. He fought with them all the way back into Berlin, being the only American to fight on both fronts, and the only one to recieve medals of Valor from the communists. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-an-escaped-pow-in-wwii-germany/464685.md?page=2)