Vincigliata
Encyclopedia
Vincigliata 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 feudal style. Between 1941 and 1943 it served as a small prisoner of war camp
known as Castello di Vincigliata Campo PG12. It housed some high ranking British and Commonwealth officers, including Major-General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart
who was employed by the Italian government in the Armistice negotiations with the Allies in 1943.
. The property then passed to the Usimbardi family, (who introduced glass production to Florence) followed by the Ceffini of Figline
. He soon sold it to the Buonaccorsi banking family. In the general crash of Florentine banks in 1345 (bad debts by King Edward III of England for his Cressy and Poitiers campaigns) it was purchased by Niccolo son of Ugo degli Albizi a wealthy mercantile family. A branch of this family, for reasons of political expediency was renamed Alessandri, who occupied it for some three hundred years. After the fall of the Republic the Alessandri, family still kept up their palace in the city, but the Castle was allowed to drift into decay, till by the year 1637 only the Lord Francesco lived here with a little son of ten years old named Giovani Antonio and a maiden aunt of seventy years. The ruins and land were sold in 1827 to Lorenzo di Bartolommeo Galli da Rovezzano They became a source of interest to writers and artists during the romantic era, as evidenced by an Emilio Burci sketch dated 1836.
, he moved to Florence
, taking a house in the Piazza Pitti. He became a friend of Georgio Barbera, a Florentine publisher and supporter for the unification of Italy. Later he purchased Fiesole's Villa di Maiano and joined Tuscany's sizeable English expatriate community. Whilst exploring the hills of Fiesole, the Englishman came upon the overgrown ruin of Castello di Vincigliata. He fell in love with it and decided to restore it to its former glory. It was gradually reconstructed, in the course of fifteen years, building the castle in the neo-gothic style from the ground up. With the help of a young architect Giuseppe Fancelli, it became a romantic vision of a feudal fortress. He also bought the surrounding land, more than seven-hundred acres in the space of fifty years, began the delicate task of reclaiming it, restoring the houses and villas, creating the Bosco di Vincigliata, planting cypresses in the rocky areas where nothing else would grow, pines, and all the various shrubs and bushes one finds in a typical Central Italian woodland, in short, an English Romantic Garden on a huge scale. People flocked from afar to visit his castle and admire the grounds, and he was extremely pleased when The Illustrated London News
printed an engraving of Queen Victoria doing a watercolour of the Giardino delle Colonne, a pretty pool fed by the Mensola creek, during her visit in 1893.
Henry James
wrote of the castle: ‘This elaborate piece of imitation has no superficial use; but, even if it were less complete, less successful, less brilliant, I should feel a reflective kindness for it. So handsome a piece of work is its own justification; it belongs to the heroics of culture.’
The gate of the Castello is flanked by two stone lions and leads into an Italian garden with a fountain and a sunken cloister. Originally there were many Gaetano Bianchi's (1819-1892) frescos of scenes from the lives of the various families that owned Vincigliata, but only one has survived, Ugolino de'Visdomini invoking the Virgin before marching against the Sienese. In 1889 he published the definitive record on Sir John Hawkwood
, an English mercenary (or condottiero) active in 14th-century Italy. Sir John married late in life and died in Florence in 1903, without heirs. He left all his properties, including the Castello di Vincigliata to his great nephew Richard Luttrell Pilkington Bethell 3rd Baron Westbury
, who sold it off piecemeal, and his art collection was scattered.
and was designated P.G. 12 Vincigliata, as a Prisoner of War camp for distinguished military prisoners. It was a much smaller camp than the others with no more that around twenty five prisoners at any one time. The officers were separated from the non-commissioned officers and the only link between them was via the officers’ ‘Batman’ or servants who attended them. During the ebb and flow of the North African Campaign
1941/2, a number of high ranking British officers were captured. On arrival in Italy, most British POW passed through the Italian transit camp at Capua
and then moved to more permanent camps. In early 1942, the Italian army began to re-organise their POW camp system and commenced to number and classify them. The large camp at Sulmona, (held as many as 3,000 prisoners) in the Abruzzo
outside Rome, became known as ‘Campo concentramento di prigionieri di guerra 78’, abbreviated to PG 78, which held a large number of British and Commonwealth officers and other ranks. A small number of these senior officers and NCOs secured in the Villa Orsini were sent further north to P.G. 12 Vincigliata. They included Air-Marshal Owen Boyd, Lt-General Richard O'Connor, Lt-General Philip Neame, and Major-General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart, who wrote, ‘We learned that Vincigliati (sic) had belonged to an Englishman, a man called Temple Leader. We considered he had restored the castello in the most thoughtless fashion, giving all his attention to what went on above ground, and regardless of the many underground passages that he had sealed up. He made things very difficult for us.’ The castle also included New Zealander Brigadiers Reginald Miles and James Hargest who reflected in his book, ‘One thing the late Temple-Leader had certainly done. He had erected a structure ideal for the purpose it was now put to –a prison.’
Brigadier Bertram Frank Armstrong DSO (1893–1972)
Armstrong, a South African, was the Commanding Officer of the 5th South African Infantry Brigade, which formed part of the South African 1st Infantry Division, formed August 1940. It served in East Africa and the Western Desert. He was captured at Sidi Rezeg in North Africa on 23 or 24 November 1941. He had the nickname 'O Bass' '..was a jolly soul, who seemed quite undisturbed by prison life in Vincigliata'. He received the DSO in 1942, and escaped during the Italian Armistice in September 1943. Initially with other officers including Dan Ranfurly, walking over the Apennines and down into Romagna, guided by a Benedictine monk Don Leone. ‘It was a terrible climb for Brigadier Armstrong who had a game leg. There was not enough food in the village, so we dispersed in small parties over a district of ten miles’. He became a Major-General, and Chief of the General Staff, (South African) Union Defence Forces, and retired in 1953.
Air Marshal Owen Tudor Boyd
CB, OBE, MC, AFC (1889–1944)
Boyd was on his way to Egypt, in November 1940 as the new Deputy Commander of the British Air Forces in the Middle East. En-route for Malta
, the Wellington bomber in which he and his staff were passengers was forced down over enemy-controlled Sicily
by a group of Italian fighters. After destroying his confidential papers by setting his own aircraft on fire, Boyd became a prisoner of war. He and his ADC Flight-Lieutenant Leeming, were sent to the villa Orsini close to Sulmona PG 78, POW camp, joined later by Neame, O’Connor, Combe, Gambier-Parry, Todhunter and Younghusband, before being sent to Vincigliata some six months later. He was involved with a number of escape plans. He was an expert carpenter, contributing to the tunnel work, and in March 1943 escaping with five other officers. After making it to Milan boarded a train for Como
only to be arrested at the Swiss frontier. He escaped again during the Italian Armistice in September 1943, after time in the Italian countryside he successfully reached the Allied lines with Neame and O’Connor. He returned to England but in August 1944 he died of a heart attack.
Major-General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart
VC, KBE, CB, CMG, DSO (1880–1963)
He came from well-connected Continental family, appointed by Churchill as Head of a Military Mission en-route to Yugoslavia. He was captured when his Wellington aircraft from Malta
crash-landed in the sea off the coast of North Africa in April 1941. He had won a VC in World War I, on the Somme, wounded eight times, losing a hand and eye. He was the alleged model for the flamboyant Brigadier Ritchie-Hook in Evelyn Waugh
’s Sword of Honour trilogy. He was sent to the villa Orsini (referred to as Medici in his book) close to Sulmona PG 78, POW camp. Later with other officers sent to Vincigliata, where he made many escape attempts including through a successful tunnel with five others in March 1943. He managed to evade capture for eight days disguised as an Italian peasant, no mean feat considering that he did not speak Italian, and was 61 years old, with an eye patch, and one empty sleeve. He was captured and returned to Vincigliata for the obligatory 30 days solitary confinement. In August 1943 was selected by the Italian authorities to accompany an Italian negotiator, General Zanussi, to Rome then Lisbon to meet Allied contacts to facilitate the surrender. When they reached Lisbon
, de Wiart was released and made his way to England, by plane the same month. Within a month of his arrival, Churchill informed him that he was to be sent to China as his personal representative to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek
. He left by air for India in October 1943. In November 1944 he was promoted Lieutenant-General. At war end he retired to Ireland, and married for the second time.
Lieutenant-Colonel John Frederick Boyce Combe
, CB, DSO & Bar (1895-1967)
John Combe was a British Army officer before and during World War II. He was Commanding officer of the 11th Hussars
for the initial stages of the Western Desert Campaign. He was twice awarded the DSO for his service in the Western Desert Campaign before being captured in Captured in Cyrenaica Apr 1941, with O’Connor and Neame. In Vincigliata he became one of the gardeners, as well as keeping sixteen hens, ‘and tended them like a mother.’ He was an enthusiastic escaper, taking it turns in tunnelling and one of the six officers to escape in April 1943. Unfortunately he was caught the next morning in Milan
railway station, whilst studying a timetable. He escaped again with all remaining officers and men during the Italian Armistice in September 1943. He reached Camaldoli with Neame, O'Connor and other British officers. In Romagna
, he joined the Italian partisans led by Libero as Riccardo Fedel
was known. He arrived at Allied lines in May 1944, re-joining the Eighth Army. In October 1944 he was given command of 2nd Armoured Brigade, until after the German surrender, with a rank of Colonel. In 1945, he had brief periods as an acting major-general commanding successively 78th Infantry Division and 46th Infantry Division in Austria. In October 1946 his rank of major-general was made permanent and he was appointed Deputy GOC British Troops Austria. He retired from the army in October 1947, and married the same year. In 1945 he had become Colonel of the Regiment of the 11th Hussars, taking part in the procession behind the coffin at the funeral of King George VI in 1952. He relinquished the post in 1957.
Col. G H Fanshawe, OBE (1899–after 1952)
During World War I whilst a scholar in Kent, he played in a cricket match for the School's XI The King’s School, Canterbury again the 49th Bat. Canadian Expeditionary Force XI in July 1915. During World War II he was the Commanding officer of the The Queen's Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards) part of the Royal Armoured Corps, and was captured in North Africa, and arrived at Vincigliata in 1942. As Neame recorded in his book, ‘Colonel G. Fanshawe also joined us at Florence, but Younghusband and Fanshawe were sent away to make room for more senior officers. He was transferred to Veano Camp PG 29, in Piacenza
, Northern Italy. After the war he was awarded the OBE (London Gazette 1946) as Lt.-Col. (actg. Brig.) G. H. Fanshawe, (13054), The Bays, December 1945. He became a Brigadier and Commander, Royal Artillery between March 1951 and October 1952, when he retired.
Major-General Michael Denman Gambier-Parry
, MC, (1891–1976)
The Gambier-Parry’s of Highnam Court, Gloucestershire; were an artistic and military family - his father Ernest, was a major in the army sent to Egypt to avenge the death of General Gordon, and wrote a book (Suakin, 1885) about his experiences. He joined the Royal Welch Fusiliers
(like his father before) in 1911. As a Captain in World War I he served in France (awarded the Military Cross) and at Gallipoli. Promoted temp. Lieutenant-Colonel, he transferred to the Royal Tank Corps 1924. In World War II he was Aide-de-Camp to the King, then Head British Military Mission to Athens
in 1940 were he was well liked and trusted by Greek General Staff. In 1941 General Officer Commanding 2nd Amoured Division, North Africa. He was captured with Brigadier Vaughan at Mechili
in April 1941. Arriving in Villa Orsini near Sulmona with Neame, O’Connor, Combe and Younghusband, and later sent to Vincigliata the same year. As Carton de Wiart wrote of him ‘…he was also a most gifted man, made delightful sketches, was a first class ‘forger’ –which could no doubt earn him a steady income in the underworld’. Known as ‘GP’, he was a knowledgeable musician, ‘and led the choir in our church services on Sunday’. 'GP' was one of the few really unselfish men I have ever known'. In September 1943 he escaped with the other officers and after various adventures arrived in Rome where he had obtained sanctuary in a convent, till the allies arrived. He retired in 1944.
The Rt Rev George Vincent Gerard, MC, CBE (1898-1984)
During World War II Bishop Gerard was the Military Chaplain to the New Zealand Forces and was captured in North Africa. He was for a short time imprisoned in Vincigliata until he was repatriated to Egypt in June 1943.He was educated at Christ's College, Canterbury and Brasenose College, Oxford. After World War II wartime service with the Buffs
(Royal East Kent Regiment), he was ordained in 1923 and embarked on his ecclesiastical career in New Zealand, becoming the 7th Anglican Bishop of Waiapu, from 1938 to 1944.
Brigadier James Hargest
CBE, DSO & 2 bars, MC, ED, MP, (1891–1944)
James Hargest came from a New Zealand farming family. In World War I he served in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, commissioned as a second lieutenant. He fought and was wounded in the Gallipoli
Campaign, and later fought in France, being awarded the Military Cross, the DSO, and the French Légion d'honneur. In 1931 was elected to Parliament as the MP for Invercargill. During World War II as a Brigadier in 1940, he took part in the Battle of Crete, and later his brigade took part in the defence of Tobruk
, where he was captured in November 1941. He and his servant Howes, were sent by sea and rail to Italy arriving just before Christmas to the Villa Orsini near Sulmona. He was joined by fellow New Zealander Brigadier Miles. Hargest together with other officers were transferred to Vincigliata by train in March 1942.
Several escape attempts were made but his successful escape was through the tunnel in March 1943. He and Miles paired up for the escape and managed to travel to Milan by train and onwards to Como and finally across the Swiss border. On arriving Hargest wrote ‘We raced up the hill into thick forest. Reg cried, Jim, we’re in Switzerland!… I dived into my case and hauled out the three-ounce bottle of rum. We drank to our freedom.’ After travelling alone through France and Spain to Gibraltar he reached England by air in November 1943. As New Zealand’s observer he travelled back to France on D-Day 1944. On the 12th August he was killed by a shell-burst and is buried in Normandy.
Flight Lieutenant John Fishwick Leeming (1895-1965)
John was a Lancastrian with a keen interest in aviation. He had built a glider with friends in 1922 and formed the Lancashire Aero Club
, becoming its Chairman. In 1926 he was the first to land an aeroplane on a mountain (3,117ft up Helvellyn in the English Lake District). He sold his first published article at 13 and during the 1930’s became internationally known for his books. He joined the RAF and was with Air Marshal Boyd as his Aide-de-Camp when their Wellington bomber was forced down over enemy-controlled Sicily in November 1940. After destroying confidential papers by setting the aircraft on fire, including some £250,000 in currency, (although some was secretly hidden for possible escape) he and Boyd became a prisoners of war. They were sent to the Villa Orsini, close to the Sulmona POW camp near Rome. Six months later they were moved to Vincigliata PG12 near Florence. As Lt.-Gen. Neame wrote ‘Leeming gave up running the mess in December 1941, after we had been in Florence for three months to devote himself to the plot’. ‘His character interested me. I place him as an extremely shrewd man, very persistent and determined, but pleasant to deal with, with a most kindly nature and a flair for getting on with nearly anyone. But he delighted to appear to others as simple and easily overcome by circumstances, a pose which he developed so successfully that he managed to get himself repatriated as a very bad nervous breakdown case. I must say he worked hard for months on this astounding plot. He succeeded so well that the international Medical board, with Swiss and Italian doctors, unhesitatingly accepted his case for early repatriation’(in April 1943 via a military hospital in Lucca). ‘However, he reached England and returned to duty. We used to spend many hours on the battlements of Castello di Vincigliata discussing [my] book, how to be an author and many other matters’. Leeming was influential in the escape plans, suggesting using the castle well system camouflaging coding secret communications to MI9. After the war he returned to business in Manchester. He continued to write books and his experiences as a POW in Italy was the inspiration for his novels.
Brigadier Reginald Miles
, CBE, DSO & Bar, MC (1892-1943)
Reggie Miles, a New Zealander, served as an artillery captain at Gallipoli
and badly wounded in July 1915. In France, during the battle of the Somme he was awarded the Military Cross in December 1916. In May 1917 he was promoted to Major. The following year he was made a DSO (recommended for the Victoria Cross) and mentioned in dispatches in November 1918. In World War II he served in the Greek campaign, mentioned in dispatches and awarded the Greek Military Cross (first class). Re-joining his division in North Africa. In December 1941 his 6th Field Regiment was overrun by German Panzers near Belhamed, was wounded in the back by shrapnel and taken prisoner. He and Hargest arrived in Vincigliata in 1942. He settled into camp routine becoming a gardener, and actively involved in escape attempts. He together with Hargest escaped to Switzerland –the only two of six officers who escaped from the castle through a tunnel which he helped to build, in April 1943. Neame received a coded letter announcing their success a fortnight later. Miles was made a CBE and received a bar to his DSO for his ‘splendid achievement in escaping’. However, having travelled as far as Spanish frontier on 20 October 1943, in a state of depression and exhaustion, he inexplicably shot himself and was buried in the Figueras Municipal Cemetery. He was posthumously appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1944.
Lieutenant General Sir Philip Neame
VC, KBE, CB, DSO, KStJ (1888–1978)
Neame was born in Faversham Kent and educated at Cheltenham College
. He joined the Royal Engineers in 1908 and during World War I had won the Victoria Cross
in December 1914. Ten years later he won a gold medal for shooting at the 1924 Paris Olympics (the only VC to win an Olympic medal). These games memorably celebrated in the film 'Chariots of Fire'. He saw service in India becoming a Brigadier-General with Eastern Command in India in 1934 and then returned to England as Commandant of the Royal Military Academy
, Woolwich in 1938. Neame along with Lieutenant-General Richard O'Connor, were captured by a German patrol in the Western Desert Campaign in Cyrenaica April 1941. He was sent to Italy, first at Villa Orsini near Sulmona, where he met other captured officers, as Carton de Wiart wrote ‘General Neame well known as a big game hunter, discovered a latent talent for embroidery, and also started on a book’. He later moved to Castello di Vincigliata PG12, ‘Chief backgammon expert was Neame, but it made it perfectly furious to play with him, as he always seemed to have the luck of the devil’. The officers started a tunnel and as Carton de Wiart explained ‘Neame with his sapper’s knowledge gave us the layout for our labours, and with such a degree of accuracy that at the end we were hardly a centimetre out’. He and O’Connor took all the remaining officers and men out of Vincigliata during the Italian Armistice in 1943. They were taken to Florence railways station and put on a train to Arezzo. After months in the mountains and with the help of partisans and MI9 agents he Boyd and O’Connor finally arrived in Allied lines safely by Christmas 1943. Back in England during 1944 the Countess of Ranfurly records in her diary, ‘We paid a short visit to General Neame and his wife in their pretty house in Kent and he and Dan (Ranfurly - Neame's ADC since 1940) talked of their escapes’. Neame served as Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey from 1945 to 1953. Philip Neame was the nephew of a founding father of the Kent-based Shepherd Neame brewing dynasty, the oldest in Kent.
General Sir Richard Nugent O'Connor KT, GCB, DSO & Bar, MC, ADC (1889–1981)
O'Connor was born in India, sent to England attending Wellington School, Somerset
, and later the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. During World War I as Brigade Major of 91 Brigade, 7th Division, he was awarded the Military Cross in February 1915 and in March the DSO. In World War II now promoted to major-general, he was the brilliant commander of 7th Armoured Division and 4th Indian Brigade that earlier in the North African campaign had routed the Italian 10th army taking surrender of 130,000 men and 400 tanks. Unfortunately, he was captured with Lt-General Neame by a German reconnaissance night patrol in the desert between Derna and Mechili in April 1941. He was flown to Catania and then by rail to Sulmona where he and his fellow captors were billeted in the Villa Orsini for six months before being sent to Vincigliata. He attempted many escapes and succeeded in April 1943 by tunnelling out the castle with five other officers. ‘General Dick’ as the New Zealanders affectionately called him, teamed up with Carton de Wiart and walked across the Apennines. In seven days they were far beyond Bologna some 150 miles from Florence. They were arrested by a Carabinieri patrol out looking for them. The result was a return to the castle and thirty days solitary confinement. A few months later after the Italian Armistice in September 1943 he escaped again, with all remaining officers and men. He reached Camaldoli
with Neame, and with the help of Partisans and MI9 officers reached Allied lines in Termoli
by fishing boat by Christmas 1943. In 1944 commanded VIII Corps in Normandy and later during 'Operation Market Garden
'. In 1945 he was General Officer in Command of the Eastern Command in India. He retired in 1948. He was Lord Lieutenant of Ross and Cromarty from 1955 to 1964.
Thomas Daniel Knox, 6th Earl of Ranfurly KCMG (1914-1988)
Second Lieutenant, Lord (Dan) Ranfurly of the Nottinghamshire Yeomanry (Sherwood Rangers) - 1st Cavalry Division was Aide-de-Camp to Lt. Gen. Neame when they were both Captured in Cyrenaica in April 1941. He was taken by ship from North Africa to Naples then by rail to Sulmona camp PG 78, in the Abruzzo near Rome. Neame was taken to Villa Orsini nearby. They met again when they were both transferred to Vincigliata PG12 in October 1941. He adapted to prison life and handled the officers house-keeping and Red Cross parcels. As de Wiart wrote, ‘He was our most expert gambler, did me the good turn of teaching me to play backgammon’. He helped with the tunnel escape plans cleverly building and disguising the escape trap to the outside world. He escaped with other officers during the Italian Armistice in September 1943. On Florence railways station he exchanged his uniform for a civilian tweed jacket and a ticket collectors cap for a hundred cigarettes. With the help of Italian Partisans and MI9 officers reached Allied lines in Termoli by fishing boat by May 1944. A few weeks before Armistice an old school-friend was transferred to the castle Guy Ruggles-Brise with whom he escaped. His exploits in the Second World War, along with those of his wife, Hermione, and valet, Whitaker, are chronicled in his wife's (Hermione) memoirs from the time, ‘To War With Whitaker: The Wartime Diaries of the Countess of Ranfurly, 1939–1945’. Following the end of World War II, Lord Ranfurly worked briefly in insurance at Lloyd's of London, not long after being appointed Governor of the Bahamas by Winston Churchill
. Returning home in 1957, he took up farming at his Buckinghamshire estate.
Capt Guy E Ruggles-Brise
(1914–2000)
Guy Edward Ruggles-Brise joined the 104th Essex Yeomanry, and in 1940 was picked for Commando training in Scotland. He departed with No 7 Commando for North Africa, where he was captured after a daring raid against Rommel in 1941 and transferred to Naples by ship. He was later held at camp PG35 at Padula
near Salerno from May 1942 until June 1943. Briefly sent to PG19 in Bologna
before being transferred to Vincigliata in the latter days before the Italian armistice. He was amongst the party released by General Chiapati in September 1943. He and the others were driven to Firenze Campo di Marte railway station
from where a special train took them to Arezzo. After months with the partisans in the Appennines he finally reached Allied lines in May 1944 with a group of officers including an old school-friend 'Dan' Ranfurly . After the war he became a stockbroker and bought an estate in Scotland where he enjoyed deer stalking.
Lieutenant Victor Smith, RNR
A Lieutenant V H Smith RN, Fleet Air Arm of 813 squadron HMS Eagle
was shot down in raid on Maritza airfield on 4 September 1940, Rhodes, force landed Scarpanto Island, and taken prisoner. As John Leeming a fellow prisoner records in his book, 'One officer Lieutenant Victor Smith, of the Fleet Air Arm, was allowed to visit us regularly. He was an accountant in civil life and helped to audit the camp books. He was held in a nearby camp Fontana D'Amore', close to Villa Orsino in the Abrusso. Carton de Wiart mentions Lt.Smith together with Ranfurly as two officers joining his party at Sulmona railway station, before being sent to Campo PG12 Vincigliata in October 1942.
Brigadier Douglas Arnold Stirling, CdeG, (1897-1958)
He lived in Goring on Thames and served as lieutenant with the 13th Hussars in World War I serving in France (Croix de Guerre 1917) and in Mesapotamia against the Turks. Married Janet Alicia Christopher in 1924 and during the 1930s was in Egypt. In World War II he commanded the 1st Armoured Brigade, initially based in the United Kingdom and then in January 1941 it was shipped to Egypt. When Greece was invaded the 1st Armoured Brigade was sent with General Maitland Wilson's unsuccessful attempt at stopping the German invasion. In April 1941 it was evacuated to Egypt. He commanded the 11th Hussars (Prince Albert’s Own) part of 7th Armoured Division in the defence of Tobruk, where he was captured by a German reconnaissance night patrol (led by Rommel) in the desert in November 1941. He was sent to Italy and arrived at the Villa Orsini, near Sulmona joining Brigadier Hargest and others. Hargest wrote later, ‘Stirling and I became great friends and I found him an excellent companion.’ ‘He was in charge of the mess catering and negotiated through an Italian officer for a goose and ingredients for a pudding for our first Christmas in captivity’. He was transferred by rail to Florence and Castello di Vincigliata in March 1942. He settled into camp routine, known as 'pip' and worked on the tunnel in shifts for many months. At Vincigliata ‘Stirling had the most desirable effect on rabbits …he ensured the success of our birthday feasts’. ‘Stirling was sent to Rome to be court-marshalled by a Fascist court, because he had written on a post-card that Italians were bastards. Stirling’s powers of rhetoric were colossal; he practically persuaded the court that not only was it a term of endearment in English, but a compliment as well. He returned to Vincigliata and heard no more about it’. He was sent to the military hospital in Lucca with Leeming in April 1942 for his duodenal ulcer. He was returned to the camp and escaped with other officers during the Italian Armistice in September 1943 and reached Allied lines in Termoli by fishing boat by May 1944. The same year he wrote to O’Connor seeking an appointment in an armoured brigade without success.
Brigadier Edward Joseph Todhunter TD, DL, (1900–1976)
Ted Todhunter was born in Essex, on his family estate Kingsmoor House and Stewards farm in Great Parndon. He attended Rugby School
becoming a Cadet in the O.T.C division. In 1922 he was Gazetted as 2nd Lt. in the Territorial Royal Field Artillery104th (Essex Tea.) Brigade. He married Agnes Swire in 1927. Promoted Lieutenant-Colonel, and during World War II serving as a Brigadier with the RHA and was captured at Mechili in Cyrenaica North Africa with General Gambier-Parry in April 1941. He was initially brought to the same barracks as Carton de Wiart in Tripoli [Carton de Wiart p184].Then by ship to Naples and to the Villa Orsini near Sulmona. He helped in the garden and ‘collected news from Italian newspapers, making a resume of them in English which he managed brilliantly’. He was transferred to Castello di Vincligaita (PG12) in April 1942, and took on the role of camp librarian,which by the spring of 1943 numbered nearly one thousand books. He was part of the tunnelling group that worked in shifts for over six months. He escaped during the Italian Armistice in September 1943 with the remaining officers and men. They branched off into the mountains seeking refuge in the Monastery of Camaldoli. ‘He discovered a retired Dutch diplomat, Baron Quarles who lived with his English wife (who by extraordinary coincidence had known Neame as a child forty–five years earlier) close by, and he and O’Connor used to listen to the news on their wireless’. With the help of Italian Partisans and MI9 officers reached Allied lines in Termoli by fishing boat together with Combe and Ranfurly by May 1944. He was flown to England in May 1944. After the war he served as High Sheriff of Essex 1964–1965.
Captain Ernest E Vaughan, IMS (Indian Army Medical Corps
Service)
Taken prisoner at Tobruk in North Africa, Vaughan was sent to Vincigliata camp as their medical officer. ‘We had applied for a doctor to swell our community, and had been allotted not only a very good doctor but a most helpful man. ...at heart he was a real insurgent and showed the right spirit by having a go at the Italians whenever he could.’ He also supported the tunnelling escape plan by ‘watching’.
Brigadier Edward William Drummond Vaughan C.B., D.S.O., M.C (1894–1953)
Vaughan Commanding the 3 Indian Motor Brigade was captured at Mechili in April 1941. Vaughan’s Indian Cavalry gallantly repulsed many attacks, but was eventually overwhelmed, surrendering to Rommel
in person, who was leading his main armoured division. Along with other officers taken prisoner in North Africa he ended up in Campo PG12 Vincigliata. In the camp he was known as ‘Rudolph’, becoming staff officer, efficiently running the prison camp for over two years, every one took their troubles to him [Neame p288]. Vaughan’s bathroom in the castle became an observation post during the escape tunnelling. He escaped with other officers during the Italian Armistice in September 1943, after time in the Italian countryside he successfully reached the Allied lines in May 1944. Later the same year he became Commanding Officer Delhi Area, India, and from 1945 to 1948 was Aide-de-Camp to King George VI. He retired to White Knights, Newick, Sussex with his family in 1948.
Colonel George Edward Younghusband CBE, (1896-1970)
He was educated at Clifton College
and Eton
. During World War I he was mention in dispatches serving as a Lieutenant, with the 11th Hussars
(Prince Albert's Own). In World War II he served with the 3rd Hussars and after the fall of France, shipped to North Africa as Commander of 2 Armoured Division, part of 7th Armoured Brigade. He was captured in April 1941 at Mechili with Gambier-Parry and Todhunter [Carton de Wiart p186]. He was flown to Catania in Sicily and by rail to Villa Orsini near Sulmona [Neame p283]. Six months later moved to Castello di Vincigliata. Along with Coombe and Todhunter he became an enthusiastic gardener and helped coerced an amazing variety of vegetables and salad inside the castle walls. In April 1943 he was sent away with Fanshawe to make room for more senior officers. In March 1945 he received the CBE. He became Vice-Colonel (Hon Brigadier) 3rd The King's Own Hussars
, retired, he and his family lived in Crickhowell, Wales. He came from a long line of army officers, stretching back to the mid-18th century. He is related to Lieutenant Colonel Sir Francis Younghusband
(1863–1942), a British Army officer, explorer, and spiritual writer. He is remembered chiefly for his travels in the Far East and Central Asia; especially the 1904 British expedition to Tibet.
Note: A military batman was a soldier or airman assigned to a commissioned officer as a personal servant. In the Royal Navy they were called Stewards. The position was generally phased out after the war.
. (It was set up under Norman Crockatt, an ex-infantry major who earned the DSO and MC in World War I). It worked to train the armed forces in escape and evasion. Evasion lines were set up in occupied countries. MI9 exchanged coded letters with prisoner of war camps, and secretively sent in money, maps, clothes and many other useful tools. What the Italians never knew that O’Connor had one of ‘Winterbottom’s codes’ and was therefore secretively in touch with London, through coded letters sent to fictitious addresses in England.
The Escapes
There were a number of escape plans from the castle, O'Connor's attempt over the wall, had failed with the inevitable punishment of a month’s solitary confinement. Then in mid-September 1942 a tunnel was started and designed by Neame, a Royal Engineer. Various officers took it in turns to work on it in shifts of four hours per day. This was hard blistering work, but they managed to successfully evade detection, over the next six months. It was completed by the 20th March 1943. The plan was for six selected officers to escape in pairs; O’Connor with Carton de Wairt, Combe with Boyd and the two New Zealanders Hargest and Miles together. Waiting for the right conditions they eventually escaped on the evening of the 29th March. Neame in his book pays tribute to the support they received from fellow POW’s: “…while the remaining six officers and thirteen NCOs and men went through hours of tedious watching to ensure success. Every one, officers and men, were in it, and wildly keen for success!” In the meantime Leeming had been sent to Lucca military hospital in early April 1943 by the International Medical board, (he faked a very bad nervous breakdown) and from there by train to Lisbon where he was repatriated on the British hospital ship HMHS Newfoundland
arriving at Avonmouth April 23 1943.
The tunnel escape proceeded brilliantly with six officers escaping (in order: Combe, Miles, Boyd, Hargest, O’Connor, Carton de Wiart) remaining undetected until the following day, enough time for the escapees to be far away. They all had their adventures some of which have been described in their books. O’Connor and Carton de Wiart (who was now aged sixty-three) were captured in the region of the Po Valley, Bologna after eight days, while Combe was caught at Milan railway station. Boyd managed to board a train and reach Como before he too was apprehended. However the New Zealanders, Reg Miles and James Hargest secured their escape by journeying by rail and then walking over the border into Switzerland. Neame received a coded letter from Miles two weeks later confirming their safe arrival.
As a punishment, after the discovery of the tunnel two of the officers’ batmen (Pickford and Prewett) were transferred to another camp. Eventually the four captured officers were returned to the camp for thirty days solitary. As Carton de Wiart comments in his book, “...I learnt also that twenty-four hours elapsed before our exit hole had been discovered, and then only by Gussie’s dog [Mickey, a cross St Bernard & white sheep-dog]. Gussie (as Lt. Agosto Ricciardi their previous Italian guard and Gaoler was known) had left it behind when he had been sent away, but the dog proved too intimate a friend to us, and had unwittingly given away our secret”.
A new camp Commander was appointed and the garrison was increased by fifty-percent - there were now some hundred infantry and Carabinieri to guard eleven officers and fourteen other ranks. The final and successful escape was not made until after the Italian surrender in September 1943. However, in the preceding months, the inmates of the castle had through MI9 contacts continued to receive parcels with much concealed escape material including over 20,000 lire in Italian money, various maps, compasses and some clothing material.
Campo 12 received a Red Cross visit in December 1942; and reported, "This camp for British Generals continues to be satisfactory. A few minor complaints were brought forward and settled on the spot. No British chaplain has yet visited the camp”. A visit three months later describes the camp as “…as being like a country house. The officers spend much of their time working in the garden.”
Then in mid-August Carton de Wiart was selected by the Italians and taken from Vincigliata to Rome as part of their proposed armistice negotiations with the allies. (He was a friend of the Italian Crown Princess – and they hoped this connection would help). He met with the Italian Deputy Chief of Staff General Zanussi, and after a few days they travelled on to neutral Lisbon. By the end of the month he was flown to England a free man.
The Italian Armistice 1943
Then on the 8th of September 1943, the Captain in charge of Castello di Vincigliata announced that the Italian government had arranged an armistice. At nine in the morning two days later all the remaining prisoners of war were sent to Florence railway station as the Germans were approaching. General Chiappe, a sympathetic Italian officer arranged a special train for them to Arezzo some sixty miles south. Using the smuggled Lire currency they bought various civilian clothes from local Italians at the railway station. Suitably attired Neame, O’Connor, with nine other officers, together with fourteen other ranks under CQMS Morgan set off to evade capture. After arriving in Arezzo they discovered much confusion and a general air of despondency with many Italian officials. So the officers decided it was safer to move away the same evening with all the escaping soldiers. They travelled some forty miles northward to the Hospice of Camadoli in the Apennine Mountains. They stayed four days. Some officers climbed another thousand feet higher to the Monastery in Eremo where the Prior-General of the Camaldolese Order resided. He was pro-British – hated the fascists and detailed one of the brothers Don Leoni to act as special liaison between the British escaped Prisoners. Links with MI9 were re-established and money provided to help with food and shelter in an already impoverished Italian countryside. There was not enough food in the local village, so the escaping group was dispersed in small parties over a district of ten miles.
Italy was still politically divided and word reached the Prior-General that an Italian fascist had betrayed the presence of the escaping prisoners and for their safety moved them from the Monastery to hide and live amongst the Italians in the mountain villages of Segeteina and Strabatenza some ten miles away. In September and October the soldiers helped the peasants with their manual work such as digging, fetching water and husking maize. O’Connor or Neame would make regular visits to check on the soldiers’ welfare and give them any news. During this time Neame and O’Connor (who had learnt Italian whilst a prisoner) had collected another twenty or so British soldiers that had also escaped after the armistice and were wandering the mountains. As a precaution the officers built brushwood hides in the surrounding woods, to sleep overnight as there were frequent alarms about spies and impending searches. Then on the morning of 29th October, 120 Germans arrived by Italian motor- lorries and surrounded the village to search it. They had been betrayed. The approaching Germans were seen by the officers from higher up the mountains and with help from one of the guides in the village escaped. The NCO’s and other soldiers were not so lucky. After two months freedom they were again prisoners of war – this time by the Germans. After a series of escapades, by Christmas 1943 Neame, O’Connor and Boyd arrived at Termoli by fishing boat. A further five brigadiers and eleven other escapers arrived the same way by mid-May 1944
Carton de Wiart reached England in August 1943, having been involved in the Italian Armistice. He later reflect in his book 'Happy Odyssey', on page 184,after capture in North Africa, 'I met Captain Camino, who had lived in England many years and afterwards proved himself most helpful to many British prisoners of war. Later Captain Camino took me on to the Cavalry barracks, where I was treated as an honoured guest, and I wish that I could meet some of those officers again and thank them for their courtesy and kindness to me'.
James Hargest was the first and only soldier to escape Vincigliata and successfully reach England in November 1943. In doing so, he became the highest-ranking British officer to escape in either war. He wrote an account of his escape on his return in, 'Farewell Campo 12', with a dedication: 'To my son Geoffrey who died of wounds in Italy, in March 1944'. Hargest as killed in Normandy in 1944, and his book published posthumously in 1945.
Philip Neame wrote the whole of his book, 'Playing with Strife', except for the last chapter whilst a prisoner-of-war in Italy. He carried the manuscript when he was released from the castle during the Italian armistice in September 1943. It was hidden by the Prior General in the monastery of Eremo concealed in a tomb. It was retrieved by a British MI9 agent (Signor Ruggero Cagnazzo) in November 1944, and finally published in 1947.
a highly acclaimed wine-maker and artist who designs his own labels. He produces indigenous varieties of Sangiovese, Canaiolo and Colorino.
'Vincigliata (1879)', by Giuseppe Marcotti, 208 pages, Historical Print Editions, The British Library -the national library of the United Kingdom. ISBN 1161970207 / ISBN 9781161970203
'Vincigliata and Maiano', by Leader Scott (translator), (1837-1902) published in Florence in English, printed by G. Barbèra 1891, 335 pages, (To John Temple-Leader, Knight Commander of the order of the Crown of Italy, whose estate on Florentine hills, here described, enshrines so much of ancient history, and natural beauty, this book is dedicated)
'Playing with Strife', The Autobiography of a Soldier, Lt-Gen. Sir Philip Neame, V.C., K.B.E., C.B., D.S.O., George G Harrap & Co. Ltd, 1947, 353 pages, (written whilst a POW , the best narrative of Vincigliata as Campo PG12, contains a scale plan of Castello di Vincigliata, and photographs taken by the author just after the war)
'Farewell Campo 12', Brigadier James Hargest, C.B.E., D.S.O. M.C., Michael Joseph Ltd, 1945, 184 pages contains a sketch map of Castello Vincigliata page 85, route of capture and escape 'Sidi Azir - London (inside front cover),(no index)
'Happy Odyssey', Lt-Gen. Sir Carton De Wiart,V.C.,K.B.E.,C.M.G.,D.S.O., Jonathan Cape Ltd, 1950, in PAN paperback 1956, re-printed by Pen & Sword Books 2007, 287 pages, ISBN 184415539-0 (Foreword by Winston S Churchill)
'MI9 Escape & Evasion 1939-45', M.R.D. Foot & J.M Langley, The Bodley Head, 1979, 365 pages
'The Natives are Friendly', 1951, John F Leeming, New York, New York, E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., pages 195-222 (Book of his WW2 Prisoner-of-war experiences)
'Always To-Morrow', 1951, John F Leeming, George G Harrap & Co. Ltd, London, 188p, Illustrated with photographs and maps, (Tells of the authors' experiences as a prisoner of the Italians during WW2)
'To War with Whitaker', 1994, The wartime diaries of The Countess of Ranfurly 1939 -1945, William Heinemann Ltd, London, 375 pages, ISBN 0-434-00224-0
'New Zealand chaplains in the Second World War', 1950, M.L. Underhill, War History Branch, Dept. of Internal Affairs, Wellington NZ
'War in Italy 1943-1945', 1994, A Brutal Story, Richard Lamb, Saint Martin's Press, New York, 328 pages, ISBN 13 9780312110932
‘The Prisoner of War’, the official journal of the Prisoners of War Department of the British Red Cross and St John War organisation, St James’s Palace, London SW1, (These magazines were published monthly and sent to prisoners’ families).
Vol.1 No: 12, April 1943 (PG 12 - visited December 1942)
Vol.1 No: 14, June 1943 (PG12 - visited March 1943, featuring un-named officers group photo)
http://thepeerage.com
Fiesole
Fiesole is a town and comune of the province of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, on a famously scenic height above Florence, 8 km NE of that city...
in the Italian region of Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
. 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 feudal style. Between 1941 and 1943 it served as a small prisoner of war camp
Prisoner-of-war camp
A prisoner-of-war camp is a site for the containment of combatants captured by their enemy in time of war, and is similar to an internment camp which is used for civilian populations. A prisoner of war is generally a soldier, sailor, or airman who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or...
known as Castello di Vincigliata Campo PG12. It housed some high ranking British and Commonwealth officers, including Major-General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart
Adrian Carton de Wiart
Lieutenant-General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart VC, KBE, CB, CMG, DSO , was a British officer of Belgian and Irish descent...
who was employed by the Italian government in the Armistice negotiations with the Allies in 1943.
The original castle
The 13th-century castle located on a hill north of Florence close to Fiesole is Medieval in origin. It was once the ancient stronghold of the Visdomini family, important Florentine nobility since the 11th-century. They enjoyed special privileges from the Florentine bishops. A son of the family John Gualbert, a Benedictine monk, was canonized in 1193 by Pope Celestine IIIPope Celestine III
Pope Celestine III , born Giacinto Bobone, was elected Pope on March 21, 1191, and reigned until his death. He was born into the noble Orsini family in Rome, though he was only a cardinal deacon before becoming Pope...
. The property then passed to the Usimbardi family, (who introduced glass production to Florence) followed by the Ceffini of Figline
Figline Valdarno
Figline Valdarno is a comune in the Province of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, located about 25 km southeast of Florence...
. He soon sold it to the Buonaccorsi banking family. In the general crash of Florentine banks in 1345 (bad debts by King Edward III of England for his Cressy and Poitiers campaigns) it was purchased by Niccolo son of Ugo degli Albizi a wealthy mercantile family. A branch of this family, for reasons of political expediency was renamed Alessandri, who occupied it for some three hundred years. After the fall of the Republic the Alessandri, family still kept up their palace in the city, but the Castle was allowed to drift into decay, till by the year 1637 only the Lord Francesco lived here with a little son of ten years old named Giovani Antonio and a maiden aunt of seventy years. The ruins and land were sold in 1827 to Lorenzo di Bartolommeo Galli da Rovezzano They became a source of interest to writers and artists during the romantic era, as evidenced by an Emilio Burci sketch dated 1836.
The Englishman’s Castle
Sir John Temple-Leader, (1810-1903) as a young Whig politician, suddenly abandoned a promising career in Parliament for the Continent. In the early 1840’s after several years in CannesCannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
, he moved to Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, taking a house in the Piazza Pitti. He became a friend of Georgio Barbera, a Florentine publisher and supporter for the unification of Italy. Later he purchased Fiesole's Villa di Maiano and joined Tuscany's sizeable English expatriate community. Whilst exploring the hills of Fiesole, the Englishman came upon the overgrown ruin of Castello di Vincigliata. He fell in love with it and decided to restore it to its former glory. It was gradually reconstructed, in the course of fifteen years, building the castle in the neo-gothic style from the ground up. With the help of a young architect Giuseppe Fancelli, it became a romantic vision of a feudal fortress. He also bought the surrounding land, more than seven-hundred acres in the space of fifty years, began the delicate task of reclaiming it, restoring the houses and villas, creating the Bosco di Vincigliata, planting cypresses in the rocky areas where nothing else would grow, pines, and all the various shrubs and bushes one finds in a typical Central Italian woodland, in short, an English Romantic Garden on a huge scale. People flocked from afar to visit his castle and admire the grounds, and he was extremely pleased when The Illustrated London News
Illustrated London News
The Illustrated London News was the world's first illustrated weekly newspaper; the first issue appeared on Saturday 14 May 1842. It was published weekly until 1971 and then increasingly less frequently until publication ceased in 2003.-History:...
printed an engraving of Queen Victoria doing a watercolour of the Giardino delle Colonne, a pretty pool fed by the Mensola creek, during her visit in 1893.
Henry James
Henry James
Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
wrote of the castle: ‘This elaborate piece of imitation has no superficial use; but, even if it were less complete, less successful, less brilliant, I should feel a reflective kindness for it. So handsome a piece of work is its own justification; it belongs to the heroics of culture.’
The gate of the Castello is flanked by two stone lions and leads into an Italian garden with a fountain and a sunken cloister. Originally there were many Gaetano Bianchi's (1819-1892) frescos of scenes from the lives of the various families that owned Vincigliata, but only one has survived, Ugolino de'Visdomini invoking the Virgin before marching against the Sienese. In 1889 he published the definitive record on Sir John Hawkwood
John Hawkwood
Sir John Hawkwood was an English mercenary or condottiero who was active in 14th century Italy. The French chronicler Jean Froissart knew him as Jean Haccoude and Italians as Giovanni Acuto...
, an English mercenary (or condottiero) active in 14th-century Italy. Sir John married late in life and died in Florence in 1903, without heirs. He left all his properties, including the Castello di Vincigliata to his great nephew Richard Luttrell Pilkington Bethell 3rd Baron Westbury
Baron Westbury
The Baron Westbury, of Westbury in the County of Wiltshire, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1861 for the lawyer and Liberal politician Richard Bethell on his appointment as Lord Chancellor, a post he held until 1865...
, who sold it off piecemeal, and his art collection was scattered.
Use as a POW camp
The castle was requisitioned by the Italian Government during World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and was designated P.G. 12 Vincigliata, as a Prisoner of War camp for distinguished military prisoners. It was a much smaller camp than the others with no more that around twenty five prisoners at any one time. The officers were separated from the non-commissioned officers and the only link between them was via the officers’ ‘Batman’ or servants who attended them. During the ebb and flow of the North African Campaign
North African campaign
During the Second World War, the North African Campaign took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts and in Morocco and Algeria and Tunisia .The campaign was fought between the Allies and Axis powers, many of whom had...
1941/2, a number of high ranking British officers were captured. On arrival in Italy, most British POW passed through the Italian transit camp at Capua
Capua
Capua is a city and comune in the province of Caserta, Campania, southern Italy, situated 25 km north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. Ancient Capua was situated where Santa Maria Capua Vetere is now...
and then moved to more permanent camps. In early 1942, the Italian army began to re-organise their POW camp system and commenced to number and classify them. The large camp at Sulmona, (held as many as 3,000 prisoners) in the Abruzzo
Abruzzo
Abruzzo is a region in Italy, its western border lying less than due east of Rome. Abruzzo borders the region of Marche to the north, Lazio to the west and south-west, Molise to the south-east, and the Adriatic Sea to the east...
outside Rome, became known as ‘Campo concentramento di prigionieri di guerra 78’, abbreviated to PG 78, which held a large number of British and Commonwealth officers and other ranks. A small number of these senior officers and NCOs secured in the Villa Orsini were sent further north to P.G. 12 Vincigliata. They included Air-Marshal Owen Boyd, Lt-General Richard O'Connor, Lt-General Philip Neame, and Major-General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart, who wrote, ‘We learned that Vincigliati (sic) had belonged to an Englishman, a man called Temple Leader. We considered he had restored the castello in the most thoughtless fashion, giving all his attention to what went on above ground, and regardless of the many underground passages that he had sealed up. He made things very difficult for us.’ The castle also included New Zealander Brigadiers Reginald Miles and James Hargest who reflected in his book, ‘One thing the late Temple-Leader had certainly done. He had erected a structure ideal for the purpose it was now put to –a prison.’
Known prisoners September 1941 – September 1943
OfficersBrigadier Bertram Frank Armstrong DSO (1893–1972)
Armstrong, a South African, was the Commanding Officer of the 5th South African Infantry Brigade, which formed part of the South African 1st Infantry Division, formed August 1940. It served in East Africa and the Western Desert. He was captured at Sidi Rezeg in North Africa on 23 or 24 November 1941. He had the nickname 'O Bass' '..was a jolly soul, who seemed quite undisturbed by prison life in Vincigliata'. He received the DSO in 1942, and escaped during the Italian Armistice in September 1943. Initially with other officers including Dan Ranfurly, walking over the Apennines and down into Romagna, guided by a Benedictine monk Don Leone. ‘It was a terrible climb for Brigadier Armstrong who had a game leg. There was not enough food in the village, so we dispersed in small parties over a district of ten miles’. He became a Major-General, and Chief of the General Staff, (South African) Union Defence Forces, and retired in 1953.
Air Marshal Owen Tudor Boyd
Owen Tudor Boyd
Air Marshal Owen Tudor Boyd CB, OBE, MC, AFC was an officer in the British Royal Flying Corps during most of World War I...
CB, OBE, MC, AFC (1889–1944)
Boyd was on his way to Egypt, in November 1940 as the new Deputy Commander of the British Air Forces in the Middle East. En-route for Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, the Wellington bomber in which he and his staff were passengers was forced down over enemy-controlled Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
by a group of Italian fighters. After destroying his confidential papers by setting his own aircraft on fire, Boyd became a prisoner of war. He and his ADC Flight-Lieutenant Leeming, were sent to the villa Orsini close to Sulmona PG 78, POW camp, joined later by Neame, O’Connor, Combe, Gambier-Parry, Todhunter and Younghusband, before being sent to Vincigliata some six months later. He was involved with a number of escape plans. He was an expert carpenter, contributing to the tunnel work, and in March 1943 escaping with five other officers. After making it to Milan boarded a train for Como
Como
Como is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy.It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como....
only to be arrested at the Swiss frontier. He escaped again during the Italian Armistice in September 1943, after time in the Italian countryside he successfully reached the Allied lines with Neame and O’Connor. He returned to England but in August 1944 he died of a heart attack.
Major-General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart
Adrian Carton de Wiart
Lieutenant-General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart VC, KBE, CB, CMG, DSO , was a British officer of Belgian and Irish descent...
VC, KBE, CB, CMG, DSO (1880–1963)
He came from well-connected Continental family, appointed by Churchill as Head of a Military Mission en-route to Yugoslavia. He was captured when his Wellington aircraft from Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
crash-landed in the sea off the coast of North Africa in April 1941. He had won a VC in World War I, on the Somme, wounded eight times, losing a hand and eye. He was the alleged model for the flamboyant Brigadier Ritchie-Hook in Evelyn Waugh
Evelyn Waugh
Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh , known as Evelyn Waugh, was an English writer of novels, travel books and biographies. He was also a prolific journalist and reviewer...
’s Sword of Honour trilogy. He was sent to the villa Orsini (referred to as Medici in his book) close to Sulmona PG 78, POW camp. Later with other officers sent to Vincigliata, where he made many escape attempts including through a successful tunnel with five others in March 1943. He managed to evade capture for eight days disguised as an Italian peasant, no mean feat considering that he did not speak Italian, and was 61 years old, with an eye patch, and one empty sleeve. He was captured and returned to Vincigliata for the obligatory 30 days solitary confinement. In August 1943 was selected by the Italian authorities to accompany an Italian negotiator, General Zanussi, to Rome then Lisbon to meet Allied contacts to facilitate the surrender. When they reached Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, de Wiart was released and made his way to England, by plane the same month. Within a month of his arrival, Churchill informed him that he was to be sent to China as his personal representative to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
. He left by air for India in October 1943. In November 1944 he was promoted Lieutenant-General. At war end he retired to Ireland, and married for the second time.
Lieutenant-Colonel John Frederick Boyce Combe
John Frederick Boyce Combe
Major-General John Frederick Boyce Combe CB DSO & Bar was a British Army officer before and during World War II. He was twice awarded the DSO for his service in the Western Desert Campaign before being captured in April 1941 and spending nearly two and a half years as a prisoner of war in Italy...
, CB, DSO & Bar (1895-1967)
John Combe was a British Army officer before and during World War II. He was Commanding officer of the 11th Hussars
11th Hussars
The 11th Hussars was a cavalry regiment of the British Army.-History:The regiment was founded in 1715 as Colonel Philip Honeywood's Regiment of Dragoons and was known by the name of its Colonel until 1751 when it became the 11th Regiment of Dragoons...
for the initial stages of the Western Desert Campaign. He was twice awarded the DSO for his service in the Western Desert Campaign before being captured in Captured in Cyrenaica Apr 1941, with O’Connor and Neame. In Vincigliata he became one of the gardeners, as well as keeping sixteen hens, ‘and tended them like a mother.’ He was an enthusiastic escaper, taking it turns in tunnelling and one of the six officers to escape in April 1943. Unfortunately he was caught the next morning in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
railway station, whilst studying a timetable. He escaped again with all remaining officers and men during the Italian Armistice in September 1943. He reached Camaldoli with Neame, O'Connor and other British officers. In Romagna
Romagna
Romagna is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna. Traditionally, it is limited by the Apennines to the south-west, the Adriatic to the east, and the rivers Reno and Sillaro to the north and west...
, he joined the Italian partisans led by Libero as Riccardo Fedel
Riccardo Fedel
Riccardo Fedel was an Italian anti-Fascist, Communist political fighter, and war-time partisan leader...
was known. He arrived at Allied lines in May 1944, re-joining the Eighth Army. In October 1944 he was given command of 2nd Armoured Brigade, until after the German surrender, with a rank of Colonel. In 1945, he had brief periods as an acting major-general commanding successively 78th Infantry Division and 46th Infantry Division in Austria. In October 1946 his rank of major-general was made permanent and he was appointed Deputy GOC British Troops Austria. He retired from the army in October 1947, and married the same year. In 1945 he had become Colonel of the Regiment of the 11th Hussars, taking part in the procession behind the coffin at the funeral of King George VI in 1952. He relinquished the post in 1957.
Col. G H Fanshawe, OBE (1899–after 1952)
During World War I whilst a scholar in Kent, he played in a cricket match for the School's XI The King’s School, Canterbury again the 49th Bat. Canadian Expeditionary Force XI in July 1915. During World War II he was the Commanding officer of the The Queen's Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards) part of the Royal Armoured Corps, and was captured in North Africa, and arrived at Vincigliata in 1942. As Neame recorded in his book, ‘Colonel G. Fanshawe also joined us at Florence, but Younghusband and Fanshawe were sent away to make room for more senior officers. He was transferred to Veano Camp PG 29, in Piacenza
Piacenza
Piacenza is a city and comune in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Piacenza...
, Northern Italy. After the war he was awarded the OBE (London Gazette 1946) as Lt.-Col. (actg. Brig.) G. H. Fanshawe, (13054), The Bays, December 1945. He became a Brigadier and Commander, Royal Artillery between March 1951 and October 1952, when he retired.
Major-General Michael Denman Gambier-Parry
Michael Gambier-Parry
Major General Michael Denman Gambier-Parry MC DL was a British Army officer who commanded 2nd Armoured Division.- Early life and family :...
, MC, (1891–1976)
The Gambier-Parry’s of Highnam Court, Gloucestershire; were an artistic and military family - his father Ernest, was a major in the army sent to Egypt to avenge the death of General Gordon, and wrote a book (Suakin, 1885) about his experiences. He joined the Royal Welch Fusiliers
Royal Welch Fusiliers
The Royal Welch Fusiliers was an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Prince of Wales' Division. It was founded in 1689 to oppose James II and the imminent war with France...
(like his father before) in 1911. As a Captain in World War I he served in France (awarded the Military Cross) and at Gallipoli. Promoted temp. Lieutenant-Colonel, he transferred to the Royal Tank Corps 1924. In World War II he was Aide-de-Camp to the King, then Head British Military Mission to Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
in 1940 were he was well liked and trusted by Greek General Staff. In 1941 General Officer Commanding 2nd Amoured Division, North Africa. He was captured with Brigadier Vaughan at Mechili
Mechili
Mechili is a small village in Cyrenaica, Libya and the former site of a turkish fort. It’s nearly east of Benghazi, and west of Timimi.-Geography:Because of its location in the desert, Mechili suffered in the past from isolation...
in April 1941. Arriving in Villa Orsini near Sulmona with Neame, O’Connor, Combe and Younghusband, and later sent to Vincigliata the same year. As Carton de Wiart wrote of him ‘…he was also a most gifted man, made delightful sketches, was a first class ‘forger’ –which could no doubt earn him a steady income in the underworld’. Known as ‘GP’, he was a knowledgeable musician, ‘and led the choir in our church services on Sunday’. 'GP' was one of the few really unselfish men I have ever known'. In September 1943 he escaped with the other officers and after various adventures arrived in Rome where he had obtained sanctuary in a convent, till the allies arrived. He retired in 1944.
The Rt Rev George Vincent Gerard, MC, CBE (1898-1984)
During World War II Bishop Gerard was the Military Chaplain to the New Zealand Forces and was captured in North Africa. He was for a short time imprisoned in Vincigliata until he was repatriated to Egypt in June 1943.He was educated at Christ's College, Canterbury and Brasenose College, Oxford. After World War II wartime service with the Buffs
Buffs
Buffs may refer to:* Buffs , a British army unit* Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes, a fraternal organization* Buffs, a company in The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada...
(Royal East Kent Regiment), he was ordained in 1923 and embarked on his ecclesiastical career in New Zealand, becoming the 7th Anglican Bishop of Waiapu, from 1938 to 1944.
Brigadier James Hargest
James Hargest
Brigadier 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,...
CBE, DSO & 2 bars, MC, ED, MP, (1891–1944)
James Hargest came from a New Zealand farming family. In World War I he served in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, commissioned as a second lieutenant. He fought and was wounded in the Gallipoli
Gallipoli
The Gallipoli peninsula is located in Turkish Thrace , the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles straits to the east. Gallipoli derives its name from the Greek "Καλλίπολις" , meaning "Beautiful City"...
Campaign, and later fought in France, being awarded the Military Cross, the DSO, and the French Légion d'honneur. In 1931 was elected to Parliament as the MP for Invercargill. During World War II as a Brigadier in 1940, he took part in the Battle of Crete, and later his brigade took part in the defence of Tobruk
Tobruk
Tobruk or Tubruq is a city, seaport, and peninsula on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Egypt. It is the capital of the Butnan District and has a population of 120,000 ....
, where he was captured in November 1941. He and his servant Howes, were sent by sea and rail to Italy arriving just before Christmas to the Villa Orsini near Sulmona. He was joined by fellow New Zealander Brigadier Miles. Hargest together with other officers were transferred to Vincigliata by train in March 1942.
Several escape attempts were made but his successful escape was through the tunnel in March 1943. He and Miles paired up for the escape and managed to travel to Milan by train and onwards to Como and finally across the Swiss border. On arriving Hargest wrote ‘We raced up the hill into thick forest. Reg cried, Jim, we’re in Switzerland!… I dived into my case and hauled out the three-ounce bottle of rum. We drank to our freedom.’ After travelling alone through France and Spain to Gibraltar he reached England by air in November 1943. As New Zealand’s observer he travelled back to France on D-Day 1944. On the 12th August he was killed by a shell-burst and is buried in Normandy.
Flight Lieutenant John Fishwick Leeming (1895-1965)
John was a Lancastrian with a keen interest in aviation. He had built a glider with friends in 1922 and formed the Lancashire Aero Club
Lancashire Aero Club
The Lancashire Aero Club is the oldest established Flying Club in the United Kingdom.- Early history :* Late 1922: The club was formed by John F. Leeming and a group of friends who had started to build a glider in Leeming's garage at his home in Bowdon near Altrincham Cheshire...
, becoming its Chairman. In 1926 he was the first to land an aeroplane on a mountain (3,117ft up Helvellyn in the English Lake District). He sold his first published article at 13 and during the 1930’s became internationally known for his books. He joined the RAF and was with Air Marshal Boyd as his Aide-de-Camp when their Wellington bomber was forced down over enemy-controlled Sicily in November 1940. After destroying confidential papers by setting the aircraft on fire, including some £250,000 in currency, (although some was secretly hidden for possible escape) he and Boyd became a prisoners of war. They were sent to the Villa Orsini, close to the Sulmona POW camp near Rome. Six months later they were moved to Vincigliata PG12 near Florence. As Lt.-Gen. Neame wrote ‘Leeming gave up running the mess in December 1941, after we had been in Florence for three months to devote himself to the plot’. ‘His character interested me. I place him as an extremely shrewd man, very persistent and determined, but pleasant to deal with, with a most kindly nature and a flair for getting on with nearly anyone. But he delighted to appear to others as simple and easily overcome by circumstances, a pose which he developed so successfully that he managed to get himself repatriated as a very bad nervous breakdown case. I must say he worked hard for months on this astounding plot. He succeeded so well that the international Medical board, with Swiss and Italian doctors, unhesitatingly accepted his case for early repatriation’(in April 1943 via a military hospital in Lucca). ‘However, he reached England and returned to duty. We used to spend many hours on the battlements of Castello di Vincigliata discussing [my] book, how to be an author and many other matters’. Leeming was influential in the escape plans, suggesting using the castle well system camouflaging coding secret communications to MI9. After the war he returned to business in Manchester. He continued to write books and his experiences as a POW in Italy was the inspiration for his novels.
Brigadier Reginald Miles
Reginald Miles
Brigadier Reginald Miles, CBE, DSO & Bar, MC Military leader, prisoner of war.Reginald Miles was born in Springston, near Christchurch, in 1892 into a New Zealand farming family. He was educated at Rangiora High School and in 1910 was commissioned a subaltern in the school cadets...
, CBE, DSO & Bar, MC (1892-1943)
Reggie Miles, a New Zealander, served as an artillery captain at Gallipoli
Gallipoli
The Gallipoli peninsula is located in Turkish Thrace , the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles straits to the east. Gallipoli derives its name from the Greek "Καλλίπολις" , meaning "Beautiful City"...
and badly wounded in July 1915. In France, during the battle of the Somme he was awarded the Military Cross in December 1916. In May 1917 he was promoted to Major. The following year he was made a DSO (recommended for the Victoria Cross) and mentioned in dispatches in November 1918. In World War II he served in the Greek campaign, mentioned in dispatches and awarded the Greek Military Cross (first class). Re-joining his division in North Africa. In December 1941 his 6th Field Regiment was overrun by German Panzers near Belhamed, was wounded in the back by shrapnel and taken prisoner. He and Hargest arrived in Vincigliata in 1942. He settled into camp routine becoming a gardener, and actively involved in escape attempts. He together with Hargest escaped to Switzerland –the only two of six officers who escaped from the castle through a tunnel which he helped to build, in April 1943. Neame received a coded letter announcing their success a fortnight later. Miles was made a CBE and received a bar to his DSO for his ‘splendid achievement in escaping’. However, having travelled as far as Spanish frontier on 20 October 1943, in a state of depression and exhaustion, he inexplicably shot himself and was buried in the Figueras Municipal Cemetery. He was posthumously appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1944.
Lieutenant General Sir Philip Neame
Philip Neame
Lieutenant General Sir Philip Neame VC, KBE, CB, DSO, KStJ was a British Army officer and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces...
VC, KBE, CB, DSO, KStJ (1888–1978)
Neame was born in Faversham Kent and educated at Cheltenham College
Cheltenham College
Cheltenham College is a co-educational independent school, located in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England.One of the public schools of the Victorian period, it was opened in July 1841. An Anglican foundation, it is known for its classical, military and sporting traditions.The 1893 book Great...
. He joined the Royal Engineers in 1908 and during World War I had won the Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
in December 1914. Ten years later he won a gold medal for shooting at the 1924 Paris Olympics (the only VC to win an Olympic medal). These games memorably celebrated in the film 'Chariots of Fire'. He saw service in India becoming a Brigadier-General with Eastern Command in India in 1934 and then returned to England as Commandant of the Royal Military Academy
Royal Military Academy
The Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers...
, Woolwich in 1938. Neame along with Lieutenant-General Richard O'Connor, were captured by a German patrol in the Western Desert Campaign in Cyrenaica April 1941. He was sent to Italy, first at Villa Orsini near Sulmona, where he met other captured officers, as Carton de Wiart wrote ‘General Neame well known as a big game hunter, discovered a latent talent for embroidery, and also started on a book’. He later moved to Castello di Vincigliata PG12, ‘Chief backgammon expert was Neame, but it made it perfectly furious to play with him, as he always seemed to have the luck of the devil’. The officers started a tunnel and as Carton de Wiart explained ‘Neame with his sapper’s knowledge gave us the layout for our labours, and with such a degree of accuracy that at the end we were hardly a centimetre out’. He and O’Connor took all the remaining officers and men out of Vincigliata during the Italian Armistice in 1943. They were taken to Florence railways station and put on a train to Arezzo. After months in the mountains and with the help of partisans and MI9 agents he Boyd and O’Connor finally arrived in Allied lines safely by Christmas 1943. Back in England during 1944 the Countess of Ranfurly records in her diary, ‘We paid a short visit to General Neame and his wife in their pretty house in Kent and he and Dan (Ranfurly - Neame's ADC since 1940) talked of their escapes’. Neame served as Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey from 1945 to 1953. Philip Neame was the nephew of a founding father of the Kent-based Shepherd Neame brewing dynasty, the oldest in Kent.
General Sir Richard Nugent O'Connor KT, GCB, DSO & Bar, MC, ADC (1889–1981)
O'Connor was born in India, sent to England attending Wellington School, Somerset
Wellington School, Somerset
Wellington School is a British co-educational independent school in Wellington, Somerset, England catering for both day pupils and boarders. There are currently 750 pupils on roll including 200 students in the sixth form. The Headmaster is Martin Reader....
, and later the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. During World War I as Brigade Major of 91 Brigade, 7th Division, he was awarded the Military Cross in February 1915 and in March the DSO. In World War II now promoted to major-general, he was the brilliant commander of 7th Armoured Division and 4th Indian Brigade that earlier in the North African campaign had routed the Italian 10th army taking surrender of 130,000 men and 400 tanks. Unfortunately, he was captured with Lt-General Neame by a German reconnaissance night patrol in the desert between Derna and Mechili in April 1941. He was flown to Catania and then by rail to Sulmona where he and his fellow captors were billeted in the Villa Orsini for six months before being sent to Vincigliata. He attempted many escapes and succeeded in April 1943 by tunnelling out the castle with five other officers. ‘General Dick’ as the New Zealanders affectionately called him, teamed up with Carton de Wiart and walked across the Apennines. In seven days they were far beyond Bologna some 150 miles from Florence. They were arrested by a Carabinieri patrol out looking for them. The result was a return to the castle and thirty days solitary confinement. A few months later after the Italian Armistice in September 1943 he escaped again, with all remaining officers and men. He reached Camaldoli
Camaldoli
Camaldoli is a frazione of the comune of Poppi, in Tuscany, Italy. It is mostly known as the ancestral seat of the Camaldolese monastic order, originated in the eponymous hermitage, which can still be visited....
with Neame, and with the help of Partisans and MI9 officers reached Allied lines in Termoli
Termoli
Termoli is a town and comune on the Adriatic coast of Italy, in the province of Campobasso, region of Molise. It has a population of around 32,000, having expanded quickly after World War II, and it is a local resort town known for its beaches and old fortifications...
by fishing boat by Christmas 1943. In 1944 commanded VIII Corps in Normandy and later during 'Operation Market Garden
Operation Market Garden
Operation Market Garden was an unsuccessful Allied military operation, fought in the Netherlands and Germany in the Second World War. It was the largest airborne operation up to that time....
'. In 1945 he was General Officer in Command of the Eastern Command in India. He retired in 1948. He was Lord Lieutenant of Ross and Cromarty from 1955 to 1964.
Thomas Daniel Knox, 6th Earl of Ranfurly KCMG (1914-1988)
Second Lieutenant, Lord (Dan) Ranfurly of the Nottinghamshire Yeomanry (Sherwood Rangers) - 1st Cavalry Division was Aide-de-Camp to Lt. Gen. Neame when they were both Captured in Cyrenaica in April 1941. He was taken by ship from North Africa to Naples then by rail to Sulmona camp PG 78, in the Abruzzo near Rome. Neame was taken to Villa Orsini nearby. They met again when they were both transferred to Vincigliata PG12 in October 1941. He adapted to prison life and handled the officers house-keeping and Red Cross parcels. As de Wiart wrote, ‘He was our most expert gambler, did me the good turn of teaching me to play backgammon’. He helped with the tunnel escape plans cleverly building and disguising the escape trap to the outside world. He escaped with other officers during the Italian Armistice in September 1943. On Florence railways station he exchanged his uniform for a civilian tweed jacket and a ticket collectors cap for a hundred cigarettes. With the help of Italian Partisans and MI9 officers reached Allied lines in Termoli by fishing boat by May 1944. A few weeks before Armistice an old school-friend was transferred to the castle Guy Ruggles-Brise with whom he escaped. His exploits in the Second World War, along with those of his wife, Hermione, and valet, Whitaker, are chronicled in his wife's (Hermione) memoirs from the time, ‘To War With Whitaker: The Wartime Diaries of the Countess of Ranfurly, 1939–1945’. Following the end of World War II, Lord Ranfurly worked briefly in insurance at Lloyd's of London, not long after being appointed Governor of the Bahamas by Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir 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...
. Returning home in 1957, he took up farming at his Buckinghamshire estate.
Capt Guy E Ruggles-Brise
Guy E Ruggles-Brise
Capt Guy E Ruggles-Brise , Soldier, countryman and High Sheriff of EssexGuy Edward Ruggles-Brise born in 1914 the second son of Sir Edward Archibald Ruggles-Brise,MC,TD,JP,DL. He came from a landed family who had lived at Spains Hall, Finchingfield, Essex, since the 18th century. The original house...
(1914–2000)
Guy Edward Ruggles-Brise joined the 104th Essex Yeomanry, and in 1940 was picked for Commando training in Scotland. He departed with No 7 Commando for North Africa, where he was captured after a daring raid against Rommel in 1941 and transferred to Naples by ship. He was later held at camp PG35 at Padula
Padula
Padula is a comune in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. It is the home of the Carthusian monastery Certosa di San Lorenzo, sometimes referred to as the Certosa di Padula.-Geography:...
near Salerno from May 1942 until June 1943. Briefly sent to PG19 in Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
before being transferred to Vincigliata in the latter days before the Italian armistice. He was amongst the party released by General Chiapati in September 1943. He and the others were driven to Firenze Campo di Marte railway station
Firenze Campo di Marte railway station
Firenze Campo di Marte is the third railway station of Florence and the eighth station of Tuscany and the biggest station in south Florence. The station is mostly used by commuters going to Florence coming from the nearby countryside-Overview:All regional trains going south and Santa Maria...
from where a special train took them to Arezzo. After months with the partisans in the Appennines he finally reached Allied lines in May 1944 with a group of officers including an old school-friend 'Dan' Ranfurly . After the war he became a stockbroker and bought an estate in Scotland where he enjoyed deer stalking.
Lieutenant Victor Smith, RNR
A Lieutenant V H Smith RN, Fleet Air Arm of 813 squadron HMS Eagle
HMS Eagle
Eighteen ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Eagle, after the eagle.*HMS Eagle was an ex-merchantman purchased in 1592 and in use as a careening hulk. She was sold in 1683....
was shot down in raid on Maritza airfield on 4 September 1940, Rhodes, force landed Scarpanto Island, and taken prisoner. As John Leeming a fellow prisoner records in his book, 'One officer Lieutenant Victor Smith, of the Fleet Air Arm, was allowed to visit us regularly. He was an accountant in civil life and helped to audit the camp books. He was held in a nearby camp Fontana D'Amore', close to Villa Orsino in the Abrusso. Carton de Wiart mentions Lt.Smith together with Ranfurly as two officers joining his party at Sulmona railway station, before being sent to Campo PG12 Vincigliata in October 1942.
Brigadier Douglas Arnold Stirling, CdeG, (1897-1958)
He lived in Goring on Thames and served as lieutenant with the 13th Hussars in World War I serving in France (Croix de Guerre 1917) and in Mesapotamia against the Turks. Married Janet Alicia Christopher in 1924 and during the 1930s was in Egypt. In World War II he commanded the 1st Armoured Brigade, initially based in the United Kingdom and then in January 1941 it was shipped to Egypt. When Greece was invaded the 1st Armoured Brigade was sent with General Maitland Wilson's unsuccessful attempt at stopping the German invasion. In April 1941 it was evacuated to Egypt. He commanded the 11th Hussars (Prince Albert’s Own) part of 7th Armoured Division in the defence of Tobruk, where he was captured by a German reconnaissance night patrol (led by Rommel) in the desert in November 1941. He was sent to Italy and arrived at the Villa Orsini, near Sulmona joining Brigadier Hargest and others. Hargest wrote later, ‘Stirling and I became great friends and I found him an excellent companion.’ ‘He was in charge of the mess catering and negotiated through an Italian officer for a goose and ingredients for a pudding for our first Christmas in captivity’. He was transferred by rail to Florence and Castello di Vincigliata in March 1942. He settled into camp routine, known as 'pip' and worked on the tunnel in shifts for many months. At Vincigliata ‘Stirling had the most desirable effect on rabbits …he ensured the success of our birthday feasts’. ‘Stirling was sent to Rome to be court-marshalled by a Fascist court, because he had written on a post-card that Italians were bastards. Stirling’s powers of rhetoric were colossal; he practically persuaded the court that not only was it a term of endearment in English, but a compliment as well. He returned to Vincigliata and heard no more about it’. He was sent to the military hospital in Lucca with Leeming in April 1942 for his duodenal ulcer. He was returned to the camp and escaped with other officers during the Italian Armistice in September 1943 and reached Allied lines in Termoli by fishing boat by May 1944. The same year he wrote to O’Connor seeking an appointment in an armoured brigade without success.
Brigadier Edward Joseph Todhunter TD, DL, (1900–1976)
Ted Todhunter was born in Essex, on his family estate Kingsmoor House and Stewards farm in Great Parndon. He attended Rugby School
Rugby School
Rugby School is a co-educational day and boarding school located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. It is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain.-History:...
becoming a Cadet in the O.T.C division. In 1922 he was Gazetted as 2nd Lt. in the Territorial Royal Field Artillery104th (Essex Tea.) Brigade. He married Agnes Swire in 1927. Promoted Lieutenant-Colonel, and during World War II serving as a Brigadier with the RHA and was captured at Mechili in Cyrenaica North Africa with General Gambier-Parry in April 1941. He was initially brought to the same barracks as Carton de Wiart in Tripoli [Carton de Wiart p184].Then by ship to Naples and to the Villa Orsini near Sulmona. He helped in the garden and ‘collected news from Italian newspapers, making a resume of them in English which he managed brilliantly’. He was transferred to Castello di Vincligaita (PG12) in April 1942, and took on the role of camp librarian,which by the spring of 1943 numbered nearly one thousand books. He was part of the tunnelling group that worked in shifts for over six months. He escaped during the Italian Armistice in September 1943 with the remaining officers and men. They branched off into the mountains seeking refuge in the Monastery of Camaldoli. ‘He discovered a retired Dutch diplomat, Baron Quarles who lived with his English wife (who by extraordinary coincidence had known Neame as a child forty–five years earlier) close by, and he and O’Connor used to listen to the news on their wireless’. With the help of Italian Partisans and MI9 officers reached Allied lines in Termoli by fishing boat together with Combe and Ranfurly by May 1944. He was flown to England in May 1944. After the war he served as High Sheriff of Essex 1964–1965.
Captain Ernest E Vaughan, IMS (Indian Army Medical Corps
Indian Army Medical Corps
-Early history:Very little is known of the medical organisations that existed in the various Armies in this country in the ancient times. However, Kautilya’s Arthashastra shows that during battles, physicians with surgical instruments used to stand behind the fighting men...
Service)
Taken prisoner at Tobruk in North Africa, Vaughan was sent to Vincigliata camp as their medical officer. ‘We had applied for a doctor to swell our community, and had been allotted not only a very good doctor but a most helpful man. ...at heart he was a real insurgent and showed the right spirit by having a go at the Italians whenever he could.’ He also supported the tunnelling escape plan by ‘watching’.
Brigadier Edward William Drummond Vaughan C.B., D.S.O., M.C (1894–1953)
Vaughan Commanding the 3 Indian Motor Brigade was captured at Mechili in April 1941. Vaughan’s Indian Cavalry gallantly repulsed many attacks, but was eventually overwhelmed, surrendering to Rommel
Rommel
Erwin Rommel was a German World War II field marshal.Rommel may also refer to:*Rommel *Rommel Adducul , Filipino basketball player*Rommel Fernández , first Panamanian footballer to play in Europe...
in person, who was leading his main armoured division. Along with other officers taken prisoner in North Africa he ended up in Campo PG12 Vincigliata. In the camp he was known as ‘Rudolph’, becoming staff officer, efficiently running the prison camp for over two years, every one took their troubles to him [Neame p288]. Vaughan’s bathroom in the castle became an observation post during the escape tunnelling. He escaped with other officers during the Italian Armistice in September 1943, after time in the Italian countryside he successfully reached the Allied lines in May 1944. Later the same year he became Commanding Officer Delhi Area, India, and from 1945 to 1948 was Aide-de-Camp to King George VI. He retired to White Knights, Newick, Sussex with his family in 1948.
Colonel George Edward Younghusband CBE, (1896-1970)
He was educated at Clifton College
Clifton College
Clifton College is a co-educational independent school in Clifton, Bristol, England, founded in 1862. In its early years it was notable for emphasising science in the curriculum, and for being less concerned with social elitism, e.g. by admitting day-boys on equal terms and providing a dedicated...
and Eton
Eton
Eton commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England.Eton may also refer to:-Places:*Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England*Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States...
. During World War I he was mention in dispatches serving as a Lieutenant, with the 11th Hussars
11th Hussars
The 11th Hussars was a cavalry regiment of the British Army.-History:The regiment was founded in 1715 as Colonel Philip Honeywood's Regiment of Dragoons and was known by the name of its Colonel until 1751 when it became the 11th Regiment of Dragoons...
(Prince Albert's Own). In World War II he served with the 3rd Hussars and after the fall of France, shipped to North Africa as Commander of 2 Armoured Division, part of 7th Armoured Brigade. He was captured in April 1941 at Mechili with Gambier-Parry and Todhunter [Carton de Wiart p186]. He was flown to Catania in Sicily and by rail to Villa Orsini near Sulmona [Neame p283]. Six months later moved to Castello di Vincigliata. Along with Coombe and Todhunter he became an enthusiastic gardener and helped coerced an amazing variety of vegetables and salad inside the castle walls. In April 1943 he was sent away with Fanshawe to make room for more senior officers. In March 1945 he received the CBE. He became Vice-Colonel (Hon Brigadier) 3rd The King's Own Hussars
3rd The King's Own Hussars
The 3rd Hussars was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1685. It saw service for three centuries, before being amalgamated into The Queen's Own Hussars in 1958.-The Glorious Revolution:...
, retired, he and his family lived in Crickhowell, Wales. He came from a long line of army officers, stretching back to the mid-18th century. He is related to Lieutenant Colonel Sir Francis Younghusband
Francis Younghusband
Lieutenant Colonel Sir Francis Edward Younghusband, KCSI, KCIE was a British Army officer, explorer, and spiritual writer...
(1863–1942), a British Army officer, explorer, and spiritual writer. He is remembered chiefly for his travels in the Far East and Central Asia; especially the 1904 British expedition to Tibet.
British NCOs and other ranks
- Bain, Ronald Sergeant, RAF [Neame pp297,303], an observer, shot down in Libya, [Leeming p48] a red-headed Irishman, ran the house-keeping [Carton de Wiart p189] and qualified electrician, referred to as ‘Bayne’ by Hargest [p74]
- Baxter, H J, Sergeant, RAF, air-gunner, shot down in a Sunderland over the sea,[Leeming p48], batman & cook, [Neame pp290,292,300], [Carton de Wiart pp189,202,223] ‘Baxter was the most unselfish and gallant man',.. 'always ready to help',...'having only one hand I could not manage it (escaping down a rope) unaided, Sergeant Baxter used to let me down’ [Carton de Wiart p197]
- Blackwell, Corporal, [Leeming p99]
- Collins, Trooper, servant to O’Connor [Carton de Wiart p201], [Hargest p95]
- Cunningham, A B, RN, batman [Neame p292], 'The rope itself (for O'Connor's escape attempt) had been made by Cunningham, a naval rating who had come to the castle to act as our barber' [Leeming p154]
- Howes, servant to Hargest [Hargest pp47,56,61,88]
- Morgan, Tom H, CQMS, 13037936, (1895–1957) senior NCO, served World War I, Royal Engineers (like Neame), captured at Tobruk June 1942, Vincigliata prisoners choir, [Neame p304], captured by the Germans at the end of October 1943 with other soldiers in the mountain village and transferred to Stalag VIIA in Bavaria until 1945. After the war he was operatic tenor, with Welsh National OperaWelsh National OperaWelsh National Opera is an opera company founded in Cardiff, Wales in 1943. The WNO tours Wales, the United Kingdom and the rest of the world extensively. Annually, it gives more than 120 performances of eight main stage operas to a combined audience of around 150,000 people...
Company - Pickford, H, Gunner, Royal Horse ArtilleryRoyal Horse ArtilleryThe regiments of the Royal Horse Artillery , dating from 1793, are part of the Royal Regiment of Artillery of the British Army...
, batman to Neame sent to another camp April 1943 after officers escape [Neame pp259,288] - Pitt, Sergeant, RAF, [Neame p297]
- Price, Sergeant, a Welshman from the Rhondda Valley 'made a name for himself assisting in escapes, his ingenious suggestions and really brilliant improvisations...Price was absolutely irrepressible:'[Leeming p79] '
- Prewett, Royal Gloucestershire HussarsRoyal Gloucestershire HussarsThe Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was a unit of the British Army.Raised in 1795 following William Pitt's 1794 order to raise volunteer bodies of men to defend Great Britain, through various re-organisations, the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars remain today on the establishment of the Territorial...
, from Bristol [Leeming p79], a printer in civil life. He was one of those solid, painstaking men you can rely on implicitly'[Leeming p79] batman to Carton de Wiart, sent to another camp April 1943 after officers escape, [Carton de Wiart pp189, 223] - Russell, servant to Miles, [Hargest p61]
- Stones, Trooper, batman, [Neame p292]
Note: A military batman was a soldier or airman assigned to a commissioned officer as a personal servant. In the Royal Navy they were called Stewards. The position was generally phased out after the war.
Italian Military personnel
- Generale Chiappe, Florence Corps Commander, [Neame pp292, 293, 314], ‘a good soldier and great gentleman’ [Carton de Wiart p222], later murdered by the Germans [Neame p308]
- Generale d’Armata Caracciola, Army Commander, court-martialled after escape, shot by his compatriots 1944, [Neame p308]
- Generale di Divisione Barelis, District Commander, [Neame p308]
- Colonel Bacci, Commanding officer of two or three local camps, [Carton de Wiart p193, 224]
- Major Vivarelli, replaced Bacci after escape, [Neame pp309, 310], referred to as ‘Captain Viviani’, [Carton de Wiart p224], ‘he was the worst type of Italian officer, utterly bound by regulations, pig-headed and ignorant’,… ‘removed after ‘a first class row’ [Hargest p310]
- Captain Tranquille, replaced Montalto [Carton de Wiart p198], spelt Tranquili [Hargest p70, 95]
- Lt. Agosto Ricciardi, Son of Baron Ricciardi of Naples, sent away from PG12 for being too friendly,[Neame pp286, 287, 291],[Carton de Wiart p187, 189, 191,205,206, 222] (nicknamed Gussie) whose pet dog was left behind after he left Vincigliata subsequently discovering the escape tunnel [Carton de Wiart p 222]
- Janicelli, replaced Ricciardi, (nick-name Yellow-Belly) [Carton de Wiart p206]
- Dr Egon Bolaffio, Medical officer pro-English, anti-Facist, took immense risks in helping with escape plans, [Neame p287]
- Sergeant-Major Ficozzia, Florentine shopkeeper in peace-time with many English customers, did all the prisoners shopping, [Neame p 287]
- Captain (Francesco) the Duke of Montalto, English educated at Cheltenham CollegeCheltenham CollegeCheltenham College is a co-educational independent school, located in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England.One of the public schools of the Victorian period, it was opened in July 1841. An Anglican foundation, it is known for its classical, military and sporting traditions.The 1893 book Great...
(same as Neame), [Neame p286], replaced for being too friendly [Carton de Wiart p108] - Captain Pederneschi, Castle Commander, ‘completely lost his head’ after escape discovered [Neame p293]
- Major Guillaume replaced Pederneschi, ‘a most charming man, …of whom I think most kindly to this day’. [Carton de Wiart p206, 221]
- Lt Visocchi, Montalto’s junior officer, spoke fluent English with a Scottish accent (studied in Edinburgh) [Carton de Wiart p192], removed after escape [Hargest p96]
MI9 escape & evasion
Amongst the many clandestine British secret services during World War Two was a department known as MI9MI9
MI9, the British Military Intelligence Section 9, was a department of the British Directorate of Military Intelligence, part of the War Office...
. (It was set up under Norman Crockatt, an ex-infantry major who earned the DSO and MC in World War I). It worked to train the armed forces in escape and evasion. Evasion lines were set up in occupied countries. MI9 exchanged coded letters with prisoner of war camps, and secretively sent in money, maps, clothes and many other useful tools. What the Italians never knew that O’Connor had one of ‘Winterbottom’s codes’ and was therefore secretively in touch with London, through coded letters sent to fictitious addresses in England.
The Escapes
There were a number of escape plans from the castle, O'Connor's attempt over the wall, had failed with the inevitable punishment of a month’s solitary confinement. Then in mid-September 1942 a tunnel was started and designed by Neame, a Royal Engineer. Various officers took it in turns to work on it in shifts of four hours per day. This was hard blistering work, but they managed to successfully evade detection, over the next six months. It was completed by the 20th March 1943. The plan was for six selected officers to escape in pairs; O’Connor with Carton de Wairt, Combe with Boyd and the two New Zealanders Hargest and Miles together. Waiting for the right conditions they eventually escaped on the evening of the 29th March. Neame in his book pays tribute to the support they received from fellow POW’s: “…while the remaining six officers and thirteen NCOs and men went through hours of tedious watching to ensure success. Every one, officers and men, were in it, and wildly keen for success!” In the meantime Leeming had been sent to Lucca military hospital in early April 1943 by the International Medical board, (he faked a very bad nervous breakdown) and from there by train to Lisbon where he was repatriated on the British hospital ship HMHS Newfoundland
HMHS Newfoundland
HMHS Newfoundland was a British hospital ship. She served during the Second World War and was sunk in an air attack in the Mediterranean.-Career:...
arriving at Avonmouth April 23 1943.
The tunnel escape proceeded brilliantly with six officers escaping (in order: Combe, Miles, Boyd, Hargest, O’Connor, Carton de Wiart) remaining undetected until the following day, enough time for the escapees to be far away. They all had their adventures some of which have been described in their books. O’Connor and Carton de Wiart (who was now aged sixty-three) were captured in the region of the Po Valley, Bologna after eight days, while Combe was caught at Milan railway station. Boyd managed to board a train and reach Como before he too was apprehended. However the New Zealanders, Reg Miles and James Hargest secured their escape by journeying by rail and then walking over the border into Switzerland. Neame received a coded letter from Miles two weeks later confirming their safe arrival.
As a punishment, after the discovery of the tunnel two of the officers’ batmen (Pickford and Prewett) were transferred to another camp. Eventually the four captured officers were returned to the camp for thirty days solitary. As Carton de Wiart comments in his book, “...I learnt also that twenty-four hours elapsed before our exit hole had been discovered, and then only by Gussie’s dog [Mickey, a cross St Bernard & white sheep-dog]. Gussie (as Lt. Agosto Ricciardi their previous Italian guard and Gaoler was known) had left it behind when he had been sent away, but the dog proved too intimate a friend to us, and had unwittingly given away our secret”.
A new camp Commander was appointed and the garrison was increased by fifty-percent - there were now some hundred infantry and Carabinieri to guard eleven officers and fourteen other ranks. The final and successful escape was not made until after the Italian surrender in September 1943. However, in the preceding months, the inmates of the castle had through MI9 contacts continued to receive parcels with much concealed escape material including over 20,000 lire in Italian money, various maps, compasses and some clothing material.
Campo 12 received a Red Cross visit in December 1942; and reported, "This camp for British Generals continues to be satisfactory. A few minor complaints were brought forward and settled on the spot. No British chaplain has yet visited the camp”. A visit three months later describes the camp as “…as being like a country house. The officers spend much of their time working in the garden.”
Then in mid-August Carton de Wiart was selected by the Italians and taken from Vincigliata to Rome as part of their proposed armistice negotiations with the allies. (He was a friend of the Italian Crown Princess – and they hoped this connection would help). He met with the Italian Deputy Chief of Staff General Zanussi, and after a few days they travelled on to neutral Lisbon. By the end of the month he was flown to England a free man.
The Italian Armistice 1943
Then on the 8th of September 1943, the Captain in charge of Castello di Vincigliata announced that the Italian government had arranged an armistice. At nine in the morning two days later all the remaining prisoners of war were sent to Florence railway station as the Germans were approaching. General Chiappe, a sympathetic Italian officer arranged a special train for them to Arezzo some sixty miles south. Using the smuggled Lire currency they bought various civilian clothes from local Italians at the railway station. Suitably attired Neame, O’Connor, with nine other officers, together with fourteen other ranks under CQMS Morgan set off to evade capture. After arriving in Arezzo they discovered much confusion and a general air of despondency with many Italian officials. So the officers decided it was safer to move away the same evening with all the escaping soldiers. They travelled some forty miles northward to the Hospice of Camadoli in the Apennine Mountains. They stayed four days. Some officers climbed another thousand feet higher to the Monastery in Eremo where the Prior-General of the Camaldolese Order resided. He was pro-British – hated the fascists and detailed one of the brothers Don Leoni to act as special liaison between the British escaped Prisoners. Links with MI9 were re-established and money provided to help with food and shelter in an already impoverished Italian countryside. There was not enough food in the local village, so the escaping group was dispersed in small parties over a district of ten miles.
Italy was still politically divided and word reached the Prior-General that an Italian fascist had betrayed the presence of the escaping prisoners and for their safety moved them from the Monastery to hide and live amongst the Italians in the mountain villages of Segeteina and Strabatenza some ten miles away. In September and October the soldiers helped the peasants with their manual work such as digging, fetching water and husking maize. O’Connor or Neame would make regular visits to check on the soldiers’ welfare and give them any news. During this time Neame and O’Connor (who had learnt Italian whilst a prisoner) had collected another twenty or so British soldiers that had also escaped after the armistice and were wandering the mountains. As a precaution the officers built brushwood hides in the surrounding woods, to sleep overnight as there were frequent alarms about spies and impending searches. Then on the morning of 29th October, 120 Germans arrived by Italian motor- lorries and surrounded the village to search it. They had been betrayed. The approaching Germans were seen by the officers from higher up the mountains and with help from one of the guides in the village escaped. The NCO’s and other soldiers were not so lucky. After two months freedom they were again prisoners of war – this time by the Germans. After a series of escapades, by Christmas 1943 Neame, O’Connor and Boyd arrived at Termoli by fishing boat. A further five brigadiers and eleven other escapers arrived the same way by mid-May 1944
Aftermath
John Leeming was the first officer to reach England from the prison camp, in April 1943. However, he had been medically repatriated by 'feigning paranoia'.Carton de Wiart reached England in August 1943, having been involved in the Italian Armistice. He later reflect in his book 'Happy Odyssey', on page 184,after capture in North Africa, 'I met Captain Camino, who had lived in England many years and afterwards proved himself most helpful to many British prisoners of war. Later Captain Camino took me on to the Cavalry barracks, where I was treated as an honoured guest, and I wish that I could meet some of those officers again and thank them for their courtesy and kindness to me'.
James Hargest was the first and only soldier to escape Vincigliata and successfully reach England in November 1943. In doing so, he became the highest-ranking British officer to escape in either war. He wrote an account of his escape on his return in, 'Farewell Campo 12', with a dedication: 'To my son Geoffrey who died of wounds in Italy, in March 1944'. Hargest as killed in Normandy in 1944, and his book published posthumously in 1945.
Philip Neame wrote the whole of his book, 'Playing with Strife', except for the last chapter whilst a prisoner-of-war in Italy. He carried the manuscript when he was released from the castle during the Italian armistice in September 1943. It was hidden by the Prior General in the monastery of Eremo concealed in a tomb. It was retrieved by a British MI9 agent (Signor Ruggero Cagnazzo) in November 1944, and finally published in 1947.
The current castle
Castello di Vincigliata present family owners’ offer it as a venue for special occasions such as weddings, gala dinners and wine tasting. It has its own vineyard, the Testamatta Estate run by Bibi Graetz Azienda Agricola TestamattaAzienda Agricola Testamatta
Azienda Agricola Testamatta is an Italian winery run by Bibi Graetz, a winemaker of artist background from Italian/Norwegian heritage, who produces several Tuscan wines from vineyards located in the hills of Fiesole that overlook the city of Florence. Graetz has been described as a "cool winemaker"...
a highly acclaimed wine-maker and artist who designs his own labels. He produces indigenous varieties of Sangiovese, Canaiolo and Colorino.
Sources
Bibliography'Vincigliata (1879)', by Giuseppe Marcotti, 208 pages, Historical Print Editions, The British Library -the national library of the United Kingdom. ISBN 1161970207 / ISBN 9781161970203
'Vincigliata and Maiano', by Leader Scott (translator), (1837-1902) published in Florence in English, printed by G. Barbèra 1891, 335 pages, (To John Temple-Leader, Knight Commander of the order of the Crown of Italy, whose estate on Florentine hills, here described, enshrines so much of ancient history, and natural beauty, this book is dedicated)
'Playing with Strife', The Autobiography of a Soldier, Lt-Gen. Sir Philip Neame, V.C., K.B.E., C.B., D.S.O., George G Harrap & Co. Ltd, 1947, 353 pages, (written whilst a POW , the best narrative of Vincigliata as Campo PG12, contains a scale plan of Castello di Vincigliata, and photographs taken by the author just after the war)
'Farewell Campo 12', Brigadier James Hargest, C.B.E., D.S.O. M.C., Michael Joseph Ltd, 1945, 184 pages contains a sketch map of Castello Vincigliata page 85, route of capture and escape 'Sidi Azir - London (inside front cover),(no index)
'Happy Odyssey', Lt-Gen. Sir Carton De Wiart,V.C.,K.B.E.,C.M.G.,D.S.O., Jonathan Cape Ltd, 1950, in PAN paperback 1956, re-printed by Pen & Sword Books 2007, 287 pages, ISBN 184415539-0 (Foreword by Winston S Churchill)
'MI9 Escape & Evasion 1939-45', M.R.D. Foot & J.M Langley, The Bodley Head, 1979, 365 pages
'The Natives are Friendly', 1951, John F Leeming, New York, New York, E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., pages 195-222 (Book of his WW2 Prisoner-of-war experiences)
'Always To-Morrow', 1951, John F Leeming, George G Harrap & Co. Ltd, London, 188p, Illustrated with photographs and maps, (Tells of the authors' experiences as a prisoner of the Italians during WW2)
'To War with Whitaker', 1994, The wartime diaries of The Countess of Ranfurly 1939 -1945, William Heinemann Ltd, London, 375 pages, ISBN 0-434-00224-0
'New Zealand chaplains in the Second World War', 1950, M.L. Underhill, War History Branch, Dept. of Internal Affairs, Wellington NZ
'War in Italy 1943-1945', 1994, A Brutal Story, Richard Lamb, Saint Martin's Press, New York, 328 pages, ISBN 13 9780312110932
‘The Prisoner of War’, the official journal of the Prisoners of War Department of the British Red Cross and St John War organisation, St James’s Palace, London SW1, (These magazines were published monthly and sent to prisoners’ families).
Vol.1 No: 12, April 1943 (PG 12 - visited December 1942)
Vol.1 No: 14, June 1943 (PG12 - visited March 1943, featuring un-named officers group photo)
http://thepeerage.com
Further reading
- Leader Scott, Vincigliata and Maiano, rev. edn (Florence: G. Barbèra, 1891).