Planning the Escape from Donington Hall
Escape from Mainland Britain - London Sojourn
On arrival in San Francisco, New Year's Eve, 1915, Gunther Pluschow was greeted by a frantic American press, and a Consulate official from Japan, who congratulated him on avoiding capture. Pluschow had the Jap Official kicked off the boat!
Pluschow celebrated New Years Eve surrounded by the fairest and tallest American lady's he had ever seen. He danced through the night and forgot all about his troubles.
With funds supplied from the German Consulate he made his way across America. He visited old friends near the Grand Canyon, and went riding there. His other, new-found, American friends invited him to stay in America, but he refused, stating that he could not stay because of his oaths as a German Officer.
On arrival in New York, Pluschow found a newspaper lying in a gutter, and was disgusted by the obviously English controlled press that portrayed the Entente as winning every battle. His determination to return home was strengthened.
Pluschow went to a German steamship company who provided him with Swiss paperwork and a cover story, plus a ticket on board a grubby Italian steamer, bound for Naples. He was disguised as a common workman.
There was only one problem with this plan. The ship would have to dock at Gibraltar for coal, the British Fortress guarding Britain's pond: the Mediterranean. No doubt the British would search the ship. The risk though, had to be taken, if Pluschow was to make it home to Germany.
Journey
Across
America