Edward Todhunter
Escaping Vincigliata Castle in September 1943, Todhunter joined the Italian Garibaldi Partisan Brigade, reaching Allied lines at Ancona in May 1944. He served as High Sheriff of Essex from 1964 to 1965 and was a magistrate. Edward Todhunter died in 1976 at the age of 76.
Edward Vaughan
Brigadier Edward ‘Rudolph’ Vaughan reached Allied lines in May 1944 and was appointed Commanding Officer, Delhi Area, India later that year, being made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB). From 1945 to 1948 Vaughan was an ADC to King George VI. He retired from the army in 1948 and died in Sussex in 1953 aged 59.
The Italians
Major Bacci died of cancer a few months after his removal from command following the tunnel escape.
Baron Ricciardi changed sides in September 1943, finding himself attached to an Indian unit during the fighting in Italy. He survived the war.
Dr Bolaffio, who had risked everything helping the British escape attempts, returned to private practice in Florence after the war. No evidence could be found to indicate that he was rewarded for his service by the British government following General Neame’s request in writing.
General Chiappe was shot by the Germans after the Italian Armistice.
The fates of First Captain Tranquille and Captain Pederneschi remain unknown.
Vincigliata Castle
Temple-Leader’s monstrous creation that so perplexed and confounded the British prisoners of war is still there atop its hill just outside Florence, a brooding and somewhat beautiful presence. These days it’s a part of a thriving vineyard business and is used to host society weddings from all over the world. Externally, it’s little changed from its 1943 appearance. The tunnel was filled in with concrete and the chapel emptied of spoil. The wooden sentry platform around the wall has been torn out and the wire and searchlights long scrapped. But if you narrow your eyes to the Tuscan sun, you can still imagine that rainy and windswept night in March 1943 when a motley collection of perhaps the unlikeliest escapers in military history emerged from beneath its towering outer wall with a dream fixed firmly in their minds – the sweet dream of freedom and home.
Colour Plates
The telegram that Temporary Brigadier Edward Todhunter’s wife received from the War Office in April 1941 informing her of her husband’s suspected capture by the Germans in North Africa. An agonising wait ensued until confirmation was received that Todhunter was alive and well, albeit as a POW.
The first senior officers camp established by the Italians was at the Villa Orsini, a small stately home located outside the town of Sulmona in the Abruzzi. The British prisoners were held here from 1940 until their transfer to Vincigliata Castle outside Florence in September 1941 due to overcrowding and security fears.
Some of the senior officer prisoners, photographed at the Villa Orsini in 1941. From left to right: Brigadier John Combe, Major-General Adrian Carton de Wiart, Brigadier Ted Todhunter, and Major-General Michael Gambier-Parry, shown holding Baron Ricciardi’s puppy, Mickey.
More prisoners at the Villa Orsini, pictured with a representative of the Italian Red Cross, Count Morro. From left to right: Flight Lieutenant John Leeming, Count Morro, Lieutenant-General Sir Richard O’Connor, Brigadier Todhunter, Air Vice-Marshal John Boyd, Brigadier Combe.
Vincigliata Castle in all its medieval glory. This view of the castle’s south face shows its high curtain wall, central keep and towers, all largely the creation of 19thcentury English owner John Temple-Leader.
The first close-up view the prisoners had of Vincigliata Castle – its imposing main gate. Beneath the driveway was a wide dry moat. Huge studded metal doors gave access to the castle.
The central keep of Vincigliata Castle, photographed when abandoned just after the war. It can be seen that the Italian guards’ wooden walkway, suspended along the inside of the battlements, has partly collapsed through neglect.
This area of Vincigliata Castle was called ‘The Cloisters’ and was much used by the prisoners. During the war the generals kept the formal garden immaculate. The keep behind contained their bedrooms, orderlies’ quarters and public rooms.
A tantalising view of freedom from Brigadier Todhunter’s bedroom window. A sentry box can be seen in the left foreground.
Among the later arrivals at Vincigliata Castle were New Zealanders James Hargest (right) and Reg Miles, pictured here in 1941 while still at liberty. They would prove to be dedicated and resourceful escapers.
Photograph showing the wooden walkway erected by the Italian Army so that sentries could patrol Vincigliata Castle’s battlements and look down on the prisoners contained within. In the top middle can be seen a surviving spotlight that illuminated the wall at night. Above the wooden handrail are metal poles supporting strands of barbed wire bent outwards. This was installed after General O’Connor’s escape attempt in 1942 to make climbing on to the sentries’ walkway impossible from below.
This photograph, taken just after the war, shows Vincigliata Castle’s inner curtain wall beside the garden area used by prisoners for recreation. This area was the site of Lieutenant-General Sir Richard O’Connor’s famous wall escalade attempt in 1942, when he climbed on to the raised wooden sentry platform (shown here in a dilapidated state) and out through one of the battlements. The close proximity of a wooden sentry box is obvious, necessitating a clever diversion plan by the other prisoners.
An excellent view of the corner of the garden where General O’Connor launched his escalade escape in 1942. Though the guards’ walkway and sentry box have deteriorated badly in this post-war photograph, they demonstrate how risky O’Connor’s attempt was.
One of the many Italian identity cards carefully hand-forged by Major. General Gambier-Parry at Vincigliata Castle for use by escaping officers. This example was for Brigadier Edward Todhunter.
Brigadier Combe (left) and Lieutenant-General Sir Philip Neame (second left) after their eventual escape from Vincigliata Castle after Italy changed sides in September 1943. The officers are pictured with two Italian partisans who aided their escape from Italy.
Photographed at the same time as the above, from left to right: Brigadier Combe, Lord Ranfurly and Brigadier Todhunter.
Acknowledgements
I should like to extend my enormous thanks to the following people, institutions and organisations for their superb and generous assistance during the researching of this book.
My very great thanks to the following relatives and friends of the men involved in the escape from Vincigliata Castle for taking the time to share with me anecdotes, documents and photographs that have proved so invaluable to the writing of this book: Lady Caroline Simmonds, daughter of the 6th Earl of Ranfurly, for giving me permission to use her late mother’s diary as a source; Anne Myers and Anthony Gambier-Parry, the daughter and grandson respectively of Major-General Michael Gambier-Parry, for granting me interviews; Nigel and Philip Neame, the twin sons of Lieutenant-General Sir Philip Neame, for permission to use their late father’s autobiography, photographs, unpublished ‘Narrative of Events’ and many other invaluable documents, and for attempting to put me in contact with John Leeming’s family; Lady Anne Tidbury, Iona O’Connor and Mrs J.K.J. Pollok-McCall, for kind permission to use General O’Connor’s unpublished ‘Escape Narrative’; Major James Nairn, General O’Connor’s close friend, for sharing his personal memories of ‘General Dick’ with me, for advice on sources and for arranging permission to access O’Connor family documents at King’s College London; Michael Todhunter, son of Brigadier Edward Todhunter, for granting me a fascinating interview, for his kind provision of access to family documents, letters and photographs, and for his efforts to get me into Vincigliata Castle. Efforts to contact the copyright holders of John Leeming’s book Always To-Morrow and James Hargest’s Farewell Camp 12 were unfortunately unsuccessful.
A great many thanks to Briege Hunter and Brett Irwin, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland; Jodie Double, University of Leeds Lib
rary; Adam Sutch, Researcher, RAF Museum; Lianne Smith, Liddell Hart Centre, King’s College London; Alan Sinclair, Ditsong National Museum of Military History, South Africa; Rebecca Pike, Senior Reporter, The Canterbury Times; Kathryn Tye, Communications Executive, Shepherd Neame Ltd; South African National Defence Force Archives; The National Archives (Public Record Office), Kew; Cambridge University Library; The British Library.
Many thanks to my splendid agent Andrew Lownie, whose advice and enthusiasm are much appreciated. The team at Icon Books have been brilliant, and I’d like to thank my editors Duncan Heath and Robert Sharman for all of their hard work.
Lastly, I’d like to thank my beautiful and accomplished wife Fang Fang for her encouragement of and enthusiasm for this project. Her insightful observations and critical eye are much valued, and I appreciate her also acting as (unpaid) research assistant and travelling companion during the researching of this book in Italy, Switzerland and the UK.
Photo acknowledgements
Photograph of Brigadiers Hargest and Miles: ‘Senior NZ officers await Greek Minister of War, Maadi. New Zealand.’ Department of Internal Affairs. War History Branch: Photographs relating to World War 1914–1918, World War 1939–1945, occupation of Japan, Korean War, and Malayan Emergency. Ref: DA-01430-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http://natlib.govt.nz/records/22779228.
All other images courtesy of Michael Todhunter, all rights reserved.
Bibliography
Private papers
Private papers of Lieutenant-General Sir Philip Neame, VC, KBE, CB, DSO, KStJ
Private papers of Brigadier E.J. Todhunter, TD, DL
Archives
Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, University College London
Escape Narrative of Lieutenant-General Sir Richard O’Connor: OCONNOR 4/5/1 1941 Apr.–1943 Apr.
National Archives (Public Record Office), Kew
AIR 19/229 – Proposed Exchange of Air Marshal O.T. Boyd for an Italian General
HS 9/1228/7 – Thomas Daniel Knox, Earl of Ranfurly, Special Operations Executive: Personnel Files
WO 208/3319/1921 – Lieutenant-Colonel (Acting Brigadier) J.F.B. Combe, DSO & Bar
WO 208/3319/1922 – Lieutenant-Colonel (Local Brigadier) E.J. Todhunter
WO 208/3319/1923 – Brigadier E.W.D. Vaughan, MC
WO 208/3320/48 – Gambier-Parry, M.D. Prisoner of War Section. Escape/Evasion Reports: MI9/SPG: 1961
WO 208/3444 – Report on escape of British Generals from prison camp in Italy by Major General P. Neame
WO 208/5582/5583 – MI9/S/PG Interrogation Report Lieutenant-Colonel (Acting Brigadier) J.F.B. Combe, DSO & Bar
WO 32/10706 – Prisoner of War: General (Code 91[A]): Vincigliata (Prison Camp No. 12): Reports:
– Camp for British Generals at Vincigliata, Red Cross Report, 29 November 1941
– Lieutenant-General P. Neame to the Protecting Power, 14 May 1942
– Camp for British Generals at Vincigliata, Red Cross Report, 30 May 1942
– Report of Captain Leonardo Trippi, Assistant Military Attaché, Swiss Legation, Rome, 3 June 1942
– Inspection of Prisoner of War Camp No. 12, Red Cross Report, 23 June 1942
– Memorandum from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Swiss Legation Rome, 25 July 1942
– Report No. 2 On Inspection of Prisoner of War Camp No. 12, Red Cross Report, 1 July 1942
– War Office (Directorate of Prisoners of War) to the Foreign Office (Prisoners of War Department): Treatment of British Generals in Italian Hands, November 1942
– Report No. 4 on Inspection of Prisoners of War Camp No. 12, Red Cross Report, 15 October 1942
– Lieutenant-General Sir Philip Neame to The Italian War Ministry, Rome, 13 April 1943
Published sources
Books
Baynes, John, The Forgotten Victor: General Sir Richard O’Connor, KT, GCB, DSO, MC (London: Brassey’s, 1989)
Butler, Daniel, Field Marshal: The Life and Death of Erwin Rommel (London: Casemate, 2015)
Carton de Wiart, Sir Adrian, Happy Odyssey (London: Jonathan Cape Ltd, 1950)
Cumming, Michael, Pathfinder Cranswick (London: William Kinder, 1962)
Evans, Bryn, The Decisive Campaigns of the Desert Air Force, 1942–1945 (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Aviation, 2014)
Evans, David, Understand Mussolini’s Italy (London: Hodder Education, 2012)
Foot, M.R.D. & J.M. Langley, MI9: Escape & Evasion, 1939–45 (London, Book Club Associates, 1979)
Hargest, James, Farewell Campo 12 (London: Michael Joseph, 1954)
James, Henry, Transatlantic Sketches (Boston: James R. Osgood, 1875)
Krige, Uys, The Way Out: Italian Intermezzo (London: Collins, 1946)
Leeming, John, Always To-Morrow (London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd, 1951)
Leeming, John, The Natives are Friendly (New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, 1951)
McGibbon, Ian (ed.), The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Military History (Auckland: Oxford University Press, 2000)
Mead, Richard, Churchill’s Lions: A Biographical Guide to the Key British Generals of World War II (Stroud: Spellmount Books, 2007)
Mollo, Andrew, The Armed Forces of World War II: Uniforms, Insignia and Organisation (London: Black Cat, 1987)
Neame, Sir Philip, Playing With Strife: The Autobiography of a Soldier (London: George G. Harrap & Sons Ltd, 1947)
Ranfurly, Countess of, To War With Whitaker: The Wartime Diaries of the Countess of Ranfurly, 1939–45 (London: Mandarin Paperbacks, 1997)
Richards, Denis, Royal Air Force 1939–45, Vol. 1 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1975)
Ufficio Storico dell’Aeronautica Militare, Ordine Militare d’Italia 1911–1964 (Rome: Ufficio Storico dell’Aeronautica Militare, 1969)
Zabecki, David T. (ed), World War II in Europe: An Encyclopedia (New York: Routledge, 1999)
Magazines and periodicals
Lawrence Journal-World
News Chronicle
Time
Notes
Prologue
1. Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart, Happy Odyssey, (London, Jonathan Cape Ltd, 1950), p. 197
Chapter 1
1. ‘Prize Catch’, Time, 2 December 1940
2. Sir Philip Neame, Playing With Strife: The Autobiography of a Soldier (London: George G. Harrap & Sons Ltd, 1947), p. 285
3. ‘British Air Marshal Tudor Boyd Captured by Italians in Sicily’, Lawrence Journal-World, 21 November 1940
4. Michael Cumming, Pathfinder Cranswick (London: William Kinder, 1962), p. 73
5. Denis Richards, Royal Air Force 1939–45, Vol. 1 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1975), p. 270
6. ‘Italy Claims Air Marshal as Prisoner’, Brisbane Courier-Mail, 23 November 1940
7. John Leeming, Always To-Morrow (London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd, 1951), p. 12
8. John Leeming, The Natives are Friendly (New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, 1951), p. 195
9. Bryn Evans, The Decisive Campaigns of the Desert Air Force, 1942–1945 (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Aviation, 2014), Kindle edition, unpaginated
10. John Leeming, Always To-Morrow (London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd, 1951), pp. 13–14
11. Ibid: p. 14
12. ‘Prize Catch’, Time, 2 December 1940
13. John Leeming, Always To-Morrow (London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd, 1951), p. 15
14. John Leeming, The Natives are Friendly (New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, 1951), p. 196
15. John Leeming, Always To-Morrow (London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd, 1951), p. 17
16. Ibid: p. 18
17. ‘Prize Catch’, Time, 2 December 1940
18. Ordine Militare d’Italia 1911–1964 (Rome: Ufficio Storico dell’Aeronautica Militare, 1969)
19. John Leeming, Always To-Morrow (London: George G. Harrop & Co. Ltd, 1951), p. 21
20. Ibid: p. 22
21. Ibid: p. 23
22. Ibid: p. 28
<
br /> 23. Ibid: pp. 28–9
24. Bryn Evans, The Decisive Campaigns of the Desert Air Force, 1942–1945 (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Aviation, 2014), Kindle edition, unpaginated
25. Associated Press report, Rome, 2 January 1941
Chapter 2
1. ‘Lord Ranfurly’s Report on his Capture’, in To War With Whitaker: The Wartime Diaries of the Countess of Ranfurly 1939–45 (London: Mandarin, 1997), p. 232
2. David T. Zabecki (ed.), World War II in Europe: An Encyclopedia (New York: Routledge, 1999), p. 437
3. John Leeming, Always To-Morrow (London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd, 1951), p. 80
4. Daniel Butler, Field Marshal: The Life and Death of Erwin Rommel (London: Casemate, 2015), p. 210
5. John Baynes, The Forgotten Victor: General Sir Richard O’Connor (London: Brassey’s, 1989), p. 136
6. Thomas Daniel Knox, Earl of Ranfurly, HS 9/1228/7 Special Operations Executive: Personnel Files (The National Archives [Public Record Office], Kew)
7. ‘Lord Ranfurly’s Report on his Capture’, in To War With Whitaker: The Wartime Diaries of the Countess of Ranfurly 1939–45 (London: Mandarin, 1997), p. 232
8. Ibid.
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