When the First World War began in August 1914, Lieutenant Plüschow was assigned to the East Asian Naval Station at
Tsingtau, then part of the German
Kiautschou Bay concession in China. Two
Taube airplanes had been shipped in crates from
Imperial Germany. After supervising the assembly of the planes, Plüschow began serving as pilot and aerial observer. The second plane, flown by Lt. Friedrich Müllerskowski, soon crashed, leaving Plüschow to fly alone. A Japanese ultimatum on August the 15th demanding the German evacuation of
Kiautschou Bay was understandably ignored, and eight days later
Japan declared war against Germany. Japanese and British forces then jointly
besieged the German colony. By November 1914, the military situation at Kiautschou Bay had become untenable, and on November 6 Plüschow (who had flown reconnaissance and had downed a Japanese aircraft with his pistol) was ordered to fly out in his
Taube, carrying the last dispatches and documents from the governor. After flying about in his much-repaired airplane, Plüschow crashed into a rice paddy. He set fire to the
Taube, then started for Germany on foot.
Escape from China Plüschow walked to
Daschou, where the local mandarin gave a party for him. He managed to obtain a pass to cross China, as well as a
junk in which he sailed down a river, finally arriving safely at
Nanking. Plüschow sensed that he was being watched, even by officials openly friendly to Germany. As he was about to be arrested, he leapt in to a
rickshaw and went to the railway station, where he bribed a guard and slipped on a train to
Shanghai. In Shanghai, Plüschow met a friend who provided him with documents as a Swiss national, as well as money and a ticket on a ship sailing to Nagasaki, Honolulu, and, finally, to San Francisco. In January 1915, he crossed the United States to New York City. He was reluctant to approach the German consulate there, as he had entered the country under a false identity. Worse, he read in a newspaper that he was presumed to be in New York. His luck saved him again. He met a friend from Berlin who managed to get him travel documents for a ship that sailed on January 30, 1915, for Italy. After crossing the Atlantic Plüschow's ship docked at
Gibraltar, where the British arrested him as an enemy alien. They soon discovered he was the famous aviator of Tsingtau.
Escape from London On May 1, 1915, Plüschow was sent to a prisoner of war camp in
Donington Hall in Leicestershire. On July 4, 1915, he escaped during a storm and headed for London.
Scotland Yard issued an alert, asking the public to be on the lookout for a man with a "dragon tattoo" on his arm. Disguised as a worker, Plüschow felt safe enough to take souvenir photographs of himself at the London docks. He occupied his time by reading books about
Patagonia, and also visited the
British Museum. For security reasons, no notices were published announcing the departure of ships, but by observing the river he saw the ferry
Princess Juliana, sailing for the neutral
Netherlands and snuck on board. He arrived safely and finally reached Germany, where he was at first arrested as a spy since no one believed he could have accomplished such a feat. Plüschow is the only German combatant during either World War to have successfully escaped from a British prison camp.
Return to Germany Once he was identified, Plüschow was acclaimed as "the hero from Tsingtau". He was decorated, promoted, and assigned command of the naval base at
Libau in occupied
Latvian Courland. In June 1916, in an aeroplane hangar at Libau, Plüschow married. He also wrote his first book,
The Adventures of the Aviator from Tsingtau, which sold more than 700,000 copies. In 1918, his son, Guntolf Plüschow, was born. 1918 was a year of profound crisis in Germany. In November,
Wilhelm II, German Emperor, was forced to flee to the Netherlands as his nation dissolved into chaos. In 1919, the
Treaty of Versailles was impressed upon Germany, and Germans unhappy with the outcome held several military and civil revolts.
Kapitänleutnant (
lieutenant) Plüschow refused to participate. Instead, at age 33, he reluctantly resigned from the
Reichsmarine. ==South American explorations==