Camp Papago Park - Phoenix, Arizona
N 33° 28.400 W 111° 56.695
12S E 412202 N 3704162
Site of the largest POW escape in the US during World War II
Waymark Code: WM91XA
Location: Arizona, United States
Date Posted: 06/15/2010
Views: 22
Camp Papago Park was a POW facility located in Papago Park in the eastern part of Phoenix, Arizona. It consisted of five compounds, four for enlisted men and one for officers. The property now is divided between the Papago Park Military Reservation, belonging to the Arizona National Guard, a city park, residential neighborhoods and a car dealer's lot. All that remains today of the camp is the old officer's club where the coordinates take you. This is building 40 on the map at the accompanying link.
This camp housed German and Italian prisoners, mostly of U-boats. Inmates were not required to work or study, although many of them did to relieve boredom. They had fairly nice climate and gorgeous scenery. Discipline in the camp was not too bad either. In general they had things easy. Perhaps too easy. One U-boat commander, Hans-Werner Kraus, decided it was time to leave the camp. He devised a plan that would have succeeded had they realized one tiny detail.
December 1944. The prisoners in compound 1, closest to the Cross Cut Canal which still feeds Phoenix, completed their escape tunnel. Under the pretense of making a volleyball court, the prisoners carefully spread the soil from the tunnel leaving no trace of it. Estimates vary on the length of the tunnel, ranging from 125-400 feet.
On December 22, 1944, prisoners held a loud party which enabled 25 prisoners to escape. Their plan: to float down the Crosscut Canal to the Salt River. From there float to the Gila River. From there down to the Colorado River, Mexico, and freedom. The flaw in the plan: rivers in Arizona tend to be dry most of the year.
At this point the prisoners abandoned their plans and some just hung out around the Phoenix area. The camp guards meanwhile have no idea that there was an escape until folks started calling in from Phoenix and nearby Tempe. Prisoners were knocking on their doors. Other prisoners got as far away as Gila Bend. Some remained free for 32 days. One snuck back into camp either out of loneliness for his fellow prisoners or to partake of the Christmas meal. So ended the Great Escape from Papago Park.
The photo provided shows the former officers club in the camp, the only building which survives today.
For further information, and a map showing the camp diagram over photo of the site as it looks today, please check out the following links. Or you can google the camp. There is quite a bit out there on it.
Map ("http://www.brazilbrazil.com/m/powcamp1.jpg" target="_blank">visit link)
More information ("http://www.brazilbrazil.com/powcamp.html" target="_blank">visit link)
Related Website: [Web Link]
Supplementary Related Website: [Web Link]
Admission Fee: none
Opening Days/Times:
24/7
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Visit Instructions:
Posting a picture(s) of the location would be nice although not required.