| Description |
viii, 261 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm |
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text txt rdacontent |
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still image sti rdacontent |
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unmediated n rdamedia |
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volume nc rdacarrier |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
Preface: Papago Park -- The Battle of the Atlantic -- Die U-Bootwaffe -- Death of a submarine -- Post Office Box 1142 -- Execution -- Prisoners of war in America -- The land of milk and honey -- Eighty cents a day -- Run for the border -- Kapitän zur See -- Out of luck -- Inside Compound 1A -- Digging a tunnel -- The three crazy boatmen -- Sowing chaos -- Memorandum #46 -- Don't fence me in -- The devil must be loose -- Christmas Day 1944 -- Why on earth? -- Fantastic and highly improbable -- Living like Indians -- Jumping cactus -- Let the kid win -- A hell of a state of affairs -- Dereliction of duty -- Big shot -- Punishment -- Sore and disgusted -- Renewing in friendship. |
| Summary |
"...The Great Desert Escape brings to light a little-known escape by 25 determined German sailors from an American prisoner-of-war camp. The disciplined Germans tunneled unnoticed through rock-hard, sunbaked soil and crossed the unforgiving Arizona desert. They were heading for Mexico, where there were sympathizers who could help them return to the Fatherland. It was the only large-scale domestic escape by foreign prisoners in US history. Wrung from contemporary newspaper articles, interviews, and first-person accounts from escapees and the law enforcement officers who pursued them, [this book] brings history to life. At the US Army's prisoner-of-war camp at Papago Park just outside of Phoenix, life was, at the best of times, uneasy for the German Kreigsmariners. On the outside of their prison fences were Americans who wanted nothing more than to see them die slow deaths for their perceived roles in killing fathers and brothers in Europe. Many of these German prisoners had heard rumors of execution for those who escaped. On the inside were rabid Nazis determined to get home and continue the fight. At Papago Park in March 1944, a newly arrived prisoner who was believed to have divulged classified information to the Americans was murdered--hung in one of the barracks by seven of his fellow prisoners. The prisoners of war dug a tunnel 6 feet deep and 178 feet long, finishing in December 1944. Once free of the camp, the 25 Germans scattered. The cold and rainy weather caused several of the escapees to turn themselves in. One attempted to hitchhike his way into Phoenix, his accent betraying him. Others lived like coyotes among the rocks and caves overlooking Papago Park. All the while, the escapees were pursued by soldiers, federal agents, police and Native American trackers determined to stop them from reaching Mexico and freedom." -- Dust jacket. |
| Subject |
Camp Papago Park (Ariz.) -- History.
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Camp Papago Park (Ariz.)
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Prisoner-of-war escapes -- Arizona -- History -- 20th century.
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Tunnels -- Arizona -- History -- 20th century.
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Prisoners of war -- Germany -- History -- 20th century.
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Prisoners of war -- United States -- History -- 20th century.
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World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons.
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Prisoner-of-war escapes -- History.
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Tunnels -- History.
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Prisoners of war -- History.
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Prisoners of war.
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Prisoner-of-war escapes.
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Tunnels.
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World War, 1939-1945.
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| ISBN |
9781493038909 (hardcover ; alk. paper) |
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1493038907 (hardcover ; alk. paper) |
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