List of prisoner-of-war escapes
Encyclopedia
This list of prisoner-of-war
escapes includes successful and unsuccessful attempts in chronological order, where possible.
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
escapes includes successful and unsuccessful attempts in chronological order, where possible.
- This list is incomplete.
American Civil War
- November 1863 - Confederate General John Hunt MorganJohn Hunt MorganJohn Hunt Morgan was a Confederate general and cavalry officer in the American Civil War.Morgan is best known for Morgan's Raid when, in 1863, he and his men rode over 1,000 miles covering a region from Tennessee, up through Kentucky, into Indiana and on to southern Ohio...
and six of his officers escaped from the Ohio PenitentiaryOhio PenitentiaryThe Ohio Penitentiary, also known as the Ohio State Penitentiary, or less formally, the Ohio Pen or State Pen, was a prison operated from 1834-1983 in downtown Columbus, Ohio, in what is now known as the Arena District. The prison housed 5,235 prisoners at its peak in 1955...
. - February 9 and 10, 1864 - Libby Prison EscapeLibby Prison EscapeThe Libby Prison Escape was one of the most famous prison breaks during the American Civil War. Overnight between February 9 and February 10, 1864, more than 100 imprisoned Union soldiers broke out of their prisoner of war building at Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia.Of the 109 escapees, 59...
. More than 100 Union prisoners broke out of Libby PrisonLibby PrisonLibby Prison was a Confederate Prison at Richmond, Virginia, during the American Civil War. It gained an infamous reputation for the harsh conditions under which prisoners from the Union Army were kept.- Overview :...
in Richmond, VirginiaRichmond, VirginiaRichmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
. 59 reached freedom, 48 were recaptured, and two drowned.
Second Boer War
- December 12, 1899 - Winston ChurchillWinston ChurchillSir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
. A war correspondentWar correspondentA war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories firsthand from a war zone. In the 19th century they were also called Special Correspondents.-Methods:...
at the time, the future Prime Minister of the United KingdomPrime Minister of the United KingdomThe Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
was captured by the Boers while accompanying a British scouting expedition. His successful escape made him a minor national celebrity.
World War I
- July 4, 1915 - Gunther PlüschowGunther PlüschowGunther Plüschow was a German aviator, aerial explorer and author from Munich, Bavaria. His feats include the only escape by a German prisoner of war in either World War from Britain back to Germany; he was the first man to explore and film Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia from the air...
escaped from a POW camp at Donington ParkDonington ParkDonington Park is a motorsport circuit near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England.Originally part of the Donington Hall estate, it was created as a racing circuit during the pre-war period when the German Silver Arrows were battling for the European Championship...
, Leicestershire, England and made his way back to Germany. This was the only successful escape from Britain in either world war. - September 1 and 9, 1916 - John DonaldsonJohn Donaldson (aviator)Captain John Owen Donaldson was a World War I flying ace credited with seven aerial victories.Donaldson was born in Fort Yates, North Dakota, the son of General Thomas Quinton Donaldson. He left Cornell and joined the Royal Flying Corps in Canada in March 1917. When the U. S. declared war, he...
and others. On the first attempt, Donaldson and another prisoner were recaptured. The pair were joined by three others for a second try. They reached Holland, marking the first successful Allied escape of the war. - July 24, 1918 - HolzmindenHolzmindenHolzminden is a town in southern Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Holzminden. It is located directly on the river Weser, which here is the border to North Rhine-Westphalia.-History:...
Officer Prisoner of War Camp. 10 of 29 British officers made their way to freedom, making this "the most successful escape from a German prison camp during the First World War".
Allied escapes
- Mass escapes from German POW campsMass escapes from German POW campsMass escapes occur when 5 or more prisoners escape from a prison or prisoner-of-war camp at the same time.Most mass escapes occur after many months of careful planning and preparation, but seldom achieve complete success as usually the detaining power maximises the effort to find and recapture the...
- January 5, 1942 - Airey NeaveAirey NeaveAirey Middleton Sheffield Neave DSO, OBE, MC was a British soldier, barrister and politician.During World War II, Neave was one of the few servicemen to escape from the German prisoner-of-war camp Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle...
and Anthony LuteynAnthony LuteynAbraham Pierre Tony Luteyn was a Dutch officer who successfully escaped from the German prisoner of war camp of Colditz...
. Neave was the first British officer to successfully escape from Colditz CastleColditz CastleColditz Castle is a Renaissance castle in the town of Colditz near Leipzig, Dresden, and Chemnitz in the state of Saxony in Germany. Used as a workhouse for the indigent and a mental institution for over 100 years, it gained international fame as a prisoner-of-war camp during World War II for...
, Germany. - October 30, 1942 - Camp 57, Italy. 14 Australians and 5 New Zealanders escaped through a tunnel, but were all recaptured.
- August 30, 1942 - Two Australian and two British soldiers were recaptured and executed after escaping from Changi PrisonChangi PrisonChangi Prison is a prison located in Changi in the eastern part of Singapore.-First prison and POW camp:...
, Singapore. See also Selarang Barracks IncidentSelarang Barracks IncidentThe Selarang Barracks Incident also known as the Barrack Square Incident or the Selarang Square Squeeze, was an event during the Second World War started on 30 August 1942. The barracks was sited in Changi, Singapore and were used by the Japanese to hold 17,000 Anglo-Australian prisoners-of-war...
. - March 29, 1943 - Six British and New Zealand officers escaped through a tunnel from Castello di VincigliataVincigliataVincigliata Castle is a medieval castle which stands on a rocky hill to the east of Fiesole in the Italian region of Tuscany. In the mid-nineteenth century the building, which had fallen into a ruinous state, was acquired by the Englishman John Temple-Leader and entirely reconstructed in the...
(Campo 12) near Florence, Italy. Four were recaptured. New Zealand Brigadiers James HargestJames HargestBrigadier James Hargest CBE, DSO & 2 bars, MC, ED, MP, was a New Zealand military officer and politician.Hargest was born in Gore, where his father was a farmer. He joined the Territorial Force in 1911, and when World War I broke out, he volunteered to serve in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force,...
and Reginald Miles escaped to Switzerland. - April 4, 1943 - American Air Forces pilot Samuel GrashioSamuel GrashioSamuel C. Grashio was a United States Army Air Forces pilot who was captured by the Japanese in World War II. He survived the Bataan Death March and participated in the only successful mass escape from a Japanese prison camp....
, nine other Americans and two Filipinos escaped from a work camp in Davao RegionDavao RegionDavao Region / Southern Mindanao, designated as Region XI, is one of the regions of the Philippines, located on the southeastern portion of Mindanao. Davao Region consists of four provinces, namely: Compostela Valley, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental, and Davao del Sur. The region encloses the Davao...
, the PhilippinesPhilippinesThe Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. This was the only successful mass escape from a Japanese camp.
Axis escapes
Of the hundreds of thousands of POWs shipped to the U.S., only 2222 tried to escape. There were about 600 escape attempts from Canada during the war.- October 7 and December 20, 1940, January 21, 1941 - Franz von WerraFranz von WerraFranz Xaver Baron von Werra was a German World War II fighter pilot and flying ace who was shot down over England and captured...
. On his first (solo) attempt, von Werra was recaptured on October 12. His second involved four others, who were quickly caught. He was recaptured while trying to steal an airplane. He was then shipped from Great Britain to Canada, where, on his third attempt, he jumped out the window of a moving train. Seven others were recaptured. Von Werra made his way first to the United States, still neutral at that time, then to Mexico (before he could be extradited back to Canada), and eventually to Nazi GermanyNazi GermanyNazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
. He is the only German World War II POW to escape and return to Germany. - April 18, 1941 - Angler POW escapeAngler POW escapeIn April 1941, inmates at the Angler POW Camp near Neys Provincial Park on the north shore of Lake Superior planned the largest escape from a Canadian POW camp during World War II. The escape was the largest of its kind in Ontario, Canada.-Angler Camp background:...
, Canada. 28 escaped. Two were killed and the rest recaptured. - November 24, 1941 - RAF CarlisleRAF CarlisleRAF Carlisle was a Royal Air Force establishment, now closed after being used for a variety of roles over a period of fifty eight years and formerly located north of Carlisle city centre in Cumbria, England....
, Great Britain. LuftwaffeLuftwaffeLuftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
pilots Heinz Schnabel and Harry Wappler stole a Miles MagisterMiles Magister-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Amos, Peter. Miles Aircraft = The early years. Tonbridge: Air-Britain, 2009. ISBN 978 0 85130 410 6...
trainer aircraft and flew to several other RAF airfields before being recaptured. - January 1943 - Camp 354, Kenya. Italian POW Felice Benuzzi convinced two of his fellow inmates, Dr. Giovanni Balletto and Enzo Barsotti, to try an unusual escape route: climbing nearby Mount KenyaMount KenyaMount Kenya is the highest mountain in Kenya and the second-highest in Africa, after Kilimanjaro. The highest peaks of the mountain are Batian , Nelion and Point Lenana . Mount Kenya is located in central Kenya, just south of the equator, around north-northeast of the capital Nairobi...
. After 18 days, they gave up and sneaked back into camp. After the war, Benuzzi wrote of his experiences in No Picnic on Mount KenyaNo Picnic on Mount KenyaNo Picnic on Mount Kenya , by Felice Benuzzi is a mountaineering classic recounting the 1943 attempt of three escaped Italian prisoners of war to reach the summit of Mount Kenya. It was first published in 1946 in English and 1948 in Italian. The 1994 film The Ascent is based on this book.-Plot...
. - September 1943 - Bowmanville POW campBowmanville POW campThe Bowmanville POW camp Camp 30 was a Canadian-run POW camp for German soldiers during World War II located in Bowmanville, Ontario.Prisoners Otto Kretschmer and Wolfgang Heyda were the subject of an elaborate escape attempt named Operation Kiebitz....
, Canada. In Operation KiebitzOperation KiebitzOperation Kiebitz was a failed Kriegsmarine operation during World War II in 1943 to organize an escape of four skilled German U-boat commanders from a Canadian POW camp . Its counterattack by the Royal Canadian Navy, Operation Pointe Maisonnette in Chaleur Bay became a key operation in the Battle...
, Admiral Karl DönitzKarl DönitzKarl Dönitz was a German naval commander during World War II. He started his career in the German Navy during World War I. In 1918, while he was in command of , the submarine was sunk by British forces and Dönitz was taken prisoner...
sent the submarine U-536 to pick up four U-boatU-boatU-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
commanders, including noted ace Otto KretschmerOtto KretschmerFlotilla Admiral Otto Kretschmer was a German U-boat commander in the Second World War and later an admiral in the Bundesmarine. From September 1939 until being captured in March 1941, he sank 47 ships, a total of 274,333 tons. For this he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak...
, who were to break out at the right time. The Canadians were aware of the attempt, but let it proceed, hoping to capture the U-boat. However, the plan was aborted when the part of a tunnel collapsed, revealing its exit to the guards. Instead, another U-boat commander, Wolfgang HeydaWolfgang HeydaWolfgang Heyda was a German U-boat commander during World War II.-War service:After U-boat commander training aboard , Lieutenant Commander Heyda took command of on 21 June 1941, and began his first war patrol on 11 November 1941...
, escaped over a barbed wire fence and made his way 1,400 kilometres (870 mi) to the rendezvous point. Here he was captured, while the authorities waited for the U-boat to surface. Despite being spotted by three destroyers, it got away. - August 5, 1944 - Cowra breakoutCowra breakoutDuring World War II, a prisoner of war camp near the town of Cowra in New South Wales, Australia was the site of one of the largest prison escapes of the war, on 5 August 1944. At least 545 Japanese POWs were involved in the breakout.-The camp:...
, Australia. 359 Japanese POWs escaped in one of the largest breakouts of the war. All who were not killed or did not commit suicide were caught. - December 24, 1944 - Papago ParkPapago ParkPapago Park is a municipal park of the cities of Phoenix and Tempe, Arizona, USA. It has been designated as a Phoenix Point of Pride.-Description:...
, United States. 25 prisoners got out through a tunnel, but all were recaptured, U-boat commander Jürgen WattenbergJürgen WattenbergJürgen Wattenberg was a German naval officer and U-boat commander during the Second World War. In a successful career spanning just under a year, he sank 14 ships, a total of 82,027 gross registered tons ....
being the last on January 28, 1945. - March 10, 1945 - Island FarmIsland FarmIsland Farm was a Prisoner of War Camp on the outskirts of the town of Bridgend, South Wales. It hosted a number of Axis prisoners, mainly German, and was the scene of the largest escape attempt by German POWs in Britain during World War II. Near the end of the war it became known as Special Camp XI...
, Great Britain. 70, possibly more, escaped, but all were recaptured.
Korean War
- June 14, 2008 - Kim Jin-soo. Captured in 1953 by North KoreaNorth KoreaThe Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
, this South KoreaSouth KoreaThe Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
n soldier eventually settled down, married and raised a family. 55 years after his capture, the 74-year-old Kim escaped to China.
Vietnam War
- June 29, 1966 - Dieter DenglerDieter DenglerDieter Dengler was a United States Navy Naval aviator during the Vietnam War. He was one of the two survivors , out of seven, to escape from a Pathet Lao prison camp in Laos. He was rescued after 23 days on the run, and was the first captured U.S...
, Pisidhi IndradatPisidhi IndradatPisidhi Indradat is a Thai civilian who worked as a "kicker" with Air America during the Vietnam War. His job was to kick the pallets of food and supplies down the plane to aid the refugees of the war....
, Duane W. MartinDuane W. MartinDuane Whitney Martin was an American Air Force officer and prisoner of war during the Vietnam War.Martin was assigned to Detachment 1 38th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron , based at Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand. On September 20, 1965, Captain Thomas J. Curtis, Martin,...
, Eugene DeBruinEugene DeBruinEugene Henry DeBruin was a US Air Force staff sergeant, and a member of Air America serving in Laos during the Second Indochina War. "Gene" DeBruin was working as a "kicker" for Air America in 1963 when his C-46 was shot down. He was a POW at a Pathet Lao prison camp in Laos until he and other...
and three others escaped from a Pathet LaoPathet LaoThe Pathet Lao was a communist political movement and organization in Laos, formed in the mid-20th century. The group was ultimately successful in assuming political power after the Laotian Civil War. The Pathet Lao were always closely associated with Vietnamese communists...
camp in LaosLaosLaos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
. U.S. Navy pilot Dengler was rescued on July 20. The others were recaptured. Indradat, a civilian, was freed by Laotian soldiers later; the remaining five were never seen again. - September 1967 - Bud DayBud DayGeorge Everette "Bud" Day is a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel and Command Pilot who served during the Vietnam War, to include five years and seven months as a Prisoner of War in North Vietnam. He is often cited as being the most decorated U.S. service member since General Douglas MacArthur, having...
. U.S. Air Force Major Day was shot down and captured by the local North Vietnamese militia. After days of torture, he escaped, becoming the only known American to make his way back to South Vietnam during the war. He was however recaptured within sight of an American base camp, and endured five years and seven months more of captivity.
See also
- Kugel-erlassKugel-erlassThe "Kugel-erlass" also known as "Aktion Kugel" was a secret decree , issued by Nazi Germany in March 1944. The decree stated that escaped Allied prisoners of war, especially officers and senior non-commissioned officers, should be handed over to the Sicherheitsdienst who should execute them, "im...
, a secret Nazi decree regarding the punishment of recaptured Allied POWs