German escape attempts during WW2?

[Socrates]

I was just wondering today; I've read and heard about British and American POW's escaping or attempting to escape from prisoner of war camps, but I can't remember reading about German POW's doing the same? Am I reading the wrong books or were the Germans less inclined to escape?

[Captain Hook]

There was one successfully attempt by a luftwaffe pilot. He managed to escape from Canada.

The Germans had various reasons for their lack of go. German POW were interned all over the British empire making escape virtually futile. Many POWs were under the impression that the Reich vas on zeh vay! Zoh vhy bozer!

After 1942 many POW in England and Ireland given orders NOT to escape as the High Command truly believed zhey vere on zhe vay! And tens of thousands trained troops would be liberated and put back into service straight away so why send them back to Jhermany!
Remember these are the same guys who decided that heavy tanks needed not a diesel engine!

[krieger]

http://camphearne.com/

Was a German POW camp about 50km east of our place. A professor from Texas A&M University wrote a book
about it call Lone Star Stalag.

Here is a list of escapes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...r_escapes#Axis

Yes, the Luftwaffe pilot Krug who escaped from Canada made it all the way to San Antonio, Texas before he was caught. He should have
gone 80km further west to Fredericksburg. It is 90% German descendants, he would have blended in well.

[Wanderin' Zero]

Remember these are the same guys who decided that heavy tanks needed not a diesel engine!

A number of reasons for this, including that diesel freezes much sooner than petrol - a real consideration on the Eastern front!

[krieger]

At Fort Sam Houston cemetery in San Antonio, Texas, in the far corner are about 25 graves of German POWs who died at Camp Hearne.

It is a sad thing to think their families couldn't bring them home, or maybe they died in the war too.

[A-R]

I was just wondering today; I've read and heard about British and American POW's escaping or attempting to escape from prisoner of war camps, but I can't remember reading about German POW's doing the same? Am I reading the wrong books or were the Germans less inclined to escape?

By now it should be quite clear, that the victors get to write the history...

[Captain Hook]

A number of reasons for this, including that diesel freezes much sooner than petrol - a real consideration on the Eastern front!

Porsche requested diesel when designing the panther. This was denied, when he inspected captured T34 he was furious that the Soviets were using diesel and configurations he had requested but had been denied.

[Captain Hook]

By now it should be quite clear, that the victors get to write the history...

Not really. Especially in this case with one known escapee and thousands of POWs.

[A-R]

Porsche requested diesel when designing the panther. This was denied, when he inspected captured T34 he was furious that the Soviets were using diesel and configurations he had requested but had been denied.

It is (mostly) common knowledge, that the biggest enemy the Germans were facing during WW2, was the "Fuhrer" himself. Had any of the many assasination attempts on him succeeded, the putcome of the war might have been somewhat different.

[A-R]

Not really. Especially in this case with one known escapee and thousands of POWs.

There are many accounts of escapes, and herioc actions, written in German. This is accessible to German readers only. All the English accounts, are distributed throughout the English speaking world. Makes a huge difference.

Just one example: My grandfather was a POW in Russia. He survived, primarily due to the fact that he was physically too weak to be of any use in the salt mines, and was allowed to return home, where he faced starvation in occupied territory. Any of this recorded in English?