On arrival, Vivarelli, a hardened Fascist officer, had immediately ordered that all remaining British officers at the castle be confined to their rooms for 48 hours. All exercise had been cancelled and two nightly checks instituted, the Carabinieri making as much noise as they liked, disturbing the generals on purpose.31 General Neame had immediately demanded an interview with Vivarelli. ‘I had a first-class row with him,’ recalled Neame, ‘for which I was awarded seven days’ solitary confinement by the Italian Chief of the General Staff, for the offence of “using language unsuited to a prisoner-of-war and insulting the Italian General Staff”!’32 In Neame’s opinion Vivarelli ‘was deliberately out to annoy and provoke us’.33 Neame later recorded the result of these constant night checks in an official complaint to Rome: ‘I am certain as a result of these continuous disturbances at irregular times, I now suffer from insomnia and my nerves are suffering severely.’34
Shortly after his arrival back at the castle, Owen Boyd was brought before Vivarelli who with a sneer sentenced him to 30 days’ solitary confinement.35 It was very clear that a new regime was in command at the castle, and that all those connected to the escape were to be severely punished, as much to restore Italian face as anything else. News of the escape had gone all the way to Mussolini himself, who was apparently furious. Boyd, stewing in solitary ‘after having been so nearly successful … found this punishment the hardest to bear; he craved for someone with whom to talk it over,’ Hargest would later write.36
*
Generals O’Connor and De Wiart stumbled, slid and awkwardly climbed their way down into the deep ravine, their heavy rucksacks threatening to pitch them headfirst into the abyss. It was the most unpleasant terrain that they had yet encountered,37 De Wiart with his missing eye and impaired balance finding it particularly precarious.
Reaching the bottom of the ravine safely, the two escapers rested before crossing the small stream and ascending to the surface. The climb up was a little easier than clambering down, but they were completely exhausted by the time they struggled out on to flat land again. The whole enterprise had eaten into their timetable and stocks of energy.
They marched on again until the early evening when they once more sought shelter from strangers. O’Connor was forced to virtually beg a woman to be allowed to spend the night in her cowshed; ‘judging from the expression on her face and her undisguised reluctance,’ wrote De Wiart, ‘she deemed it very hard luck on the cows.’38
*
Brigadiers Hargest and Miles were roused early in their Berne hotel room on 2 April by two Swiss Army clerks, come to take yet more statements. This took up several hours. By now, the two New Zealanders had grown used to retelling the story of their escape into Switzerland. While one of the clerks packed up his typewriter, and Hargest and Miles wondered what was going to happen next, the door opened and in stepped a young military police captain. He saluted formally and faced the two prisoners.
‘Brigadier Hargest, Brigadier Miles,’ said the officer stiffly, ‘I am to tell you that you are free.’
For a second or two the Swiss officer’s words did not sink in. Before Hargest and Miles could respond, the officer continued.
‘You have a visitor. Shall I show him in?’
‘Yes, of course,’ said Hargest, rather shell-shocked by the sudden good news.
In stepped Colonel Henry Cartwright, British Military Attaché. He shook both of their hands warmly, congratulating them on their incredible achievement. Hargest and Miles recognised Cartwright from his book Within Four Walls that they had both read. It was virtually the textbook on how to escape from a prison camp and was written from experience. During the First World War, Cartwright had attempted to escape dozens of times, eventually succeeding on his 23rd attempt. It was rumoured that the Germans even used Cartwright’s book to plan the security in their prisoner of war camps.39
‘There’s someone who is dying to meet you,’ said Cartwright brightly. Within five minutes Hargest and Miles had dumped their kit and tatty old coats in Cartwright’s office. Then they walked over to a rather grand house in the better area of town.
They entered its large hallway, framed by a grand staircase. A butler showed them into the drawing room where a small crowd of well-dressed men and women turned and stared at them. Hargest and Miles felt completely out of place, their homemade civilian clothes ragged and soiled from their long journey, their faces pale and strained from their ordeal. A lean middle-aged man in an immaculately tailored pin-striped suit who wore black-framed spectacles stepped from the crowd and advanced towards them, his face beaming with a welcoming smile.
‘Brigadier Hargest, Brigadier Miles, so good of you to come. I’m Norton, the Minister here.’ Clifford Norton shook their hands. ‘You’ve made it,’ he continued, ‘for this is sovereign British soil. You are free men.’
Hargest and Miles were overwhelmed. The other people in the room broke into spontaneous applause at Norton’s remarks. Hargest could scarcely contain the wave of emotion that broke over him, and Miles wiped his damp eyes.40 They really had made it. Nothing could touch them here. Soon they were shaking hands and being clapped on the back as the laughing and happy crowd surged around them: ‘English faces,’ recalled Hargest, ‘English voices.’41
Epilogue
The 3rd of April 1943 passed in much the same way as the previous days out on the road for Generals O’Connor and Carton de Wiart. They plodded along, rucksacks on, across countryside that was increasingly dotted with villages and small towns, which of course meant people. They also passed the local Carabinieri without any problems.
After another night sleeping alongside Italian livestock, O’Connor and De Wiart started early on the 4th, but in the afternoon they were pulled over by a local Fascist official who demanded their papers. This was the great test of General Gambier-Parry’s forging skills. His handiwork passed with flying colours, helped along by O’Connor’s facility with the language. ‘O’Connor rose to further heights of Italian fancy and poured out answers to the volley of questions put by this unattractive man,’ wrote De Wiart. ‘I turned on my deaf-mute act, and soon the creature was satisfied, and allowed us to pass on.’1 Praise for G-P’s forging skills was running high as the two generals continued on the road north.
By evening they were near the town of Vignola, separated from it by a heavily guarded bridge over a river. There was no possibility of trying to cross further down – the river was too substantial. For once, O’Connor failed to secure them any lodgings for the night. In the end they had to make do beneath a cart in a quiet farmyard.2
They rose very early on 5 April and managed to cross the bridge before the guards were posted. Once a couple of miles beyond Vignola they paused by a little stream and washed and shaved as best they could, as their ragged appearance was starting to attract undue attention from the locals.
The following day, 6 April, found them in the Po Valley, due south of Verona.3 They became lost in the myriad of little villages and stopped to consult a map. Two passing Carabinieri on bicycles spotted the generals, stopped and dismounted. They demanded their papers. ‘They scrutinised them and could find no fault with them,’ De Wiart recalled, ‘but, in fact, they proved to be that rare thing, men with an instinct.’4 De Wiart suspected that it was his and O’Connor’s tatty appearances that piqued the interest of the policemen, as G-P’s documents had again passed scrutiny without comment. Either way, the Carabinieri would not let the generals go, and seemed particularly fascinated by De Wiart’s injuries. They forced him to show them his stump. The Carabinieri sergeant had noticed that O’Connor’s identity card listed him as from Bologna, a city that he knew well. Conversely, it was soon obvious that O’Connor did not know Bologna at all. The sergeant told them that they must come to the local police station.5 ‘We knew the game was up,’ wrote De Wiart, ‘but when we informed our two captors of our identity, they nearly embraced us and were so overcome with joy that they insisted we should finish the journey to the Car
abinieri post in a cart, making a triumphant entry.’6
And thus were captured the last escapers from Vincigliata Castle. They had marched 150 miles in an incredible show of courage and tenacity, doubly impressive given their ages. They felt pride in their achievement, which though tinged with regret at capture was an amazing accomplishment in itself. ‘We were twice the men we had been when we started,’7 wrote De Wiart honestly. ‘We were a bit weary at times,’ wrote General Dick, ‘but we could have got on easily to the frontier as far as walking was concerned.’8 They now faced interrogation and the obligatory 30 days of solitary confinement back at Vincigliata Castle.
What happened afterwards …
Bertram Armstrong
‘O Bass’ Armstrong received the Distinguished Service Order while a prisoner in 1942 for his performance in command of the 5th South African Infantry Brigade in the desert campaign. He escaped from Vincigliata Castle in company with all of the other prisoners when Italy changed sides in September 1943, walking over the Apennine Mountains to Romagna, which was very taxing for a man with a game leg. Promoted to Major-General, Armstrong was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the South African Union Defence Forces, retiring in 1953. Armstrong died in South Africa in 1972 aged 79.
Owen Tudor Boyd
Boyd eventually made it back to England after escaping from Italy with Generals Neame and O’Connor in late 1943. He had just been appointed to a new RAF command when he died of a massive heart attack in 1944 at the age of 54. For his successful escape from the castle in March 1943 Boyd was Mentioned in Despatches.
Adrian Carton de Wiart
De Wiart served 30 days’ solitary confinement for his successful escape from Vincigliata Castle in March 1943. In August of the same year he was asked by the Italians to accompany General Zanussi to Lisbon in neutral Portugal to meet with Allied representatives to discuss the Italian surrender. Released in Lisbon, De Wiart was flown home to England. Shortly afterwards Winston Churchill appointed him as his personal representative to the Chinese Nationalist leader Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, promoting him to Lieutenant-General. On his way to the Far East De Wiart attended the Cairo Conference with Churchill, Chiang Kai-shek and US President Franklin D. Roosevelt before arriving in Chungking in December 1943. He often flew to India, and was there able to meet General O’Connor, who was commanding British troops in the east of the country. In 1945 De Wiart was appointed a Knight of the Order of the British Empire (KBE). During the last months of the war he toured the Burma Front and also was aboard the battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth during the bombardment of Sabang in the Dutch East Indies.
His final wartime duty was attending the Japanese surrender in Singapore in September 1945. During his journey home he stopped over in Rangoon where, coming down some stairs, he slipped on a coconut mat and fell badly, breaking several vertebrae and knocking himself unconscious. Hospitalised in the UK, he eventually recovered, but not before surgeons took the opportunity to remove large amounts of First World War shrapnel from his body.
Carton de Wiart finally retired from the army in 1947. His wife died in 1949 and in 1951 De Wiart married again (his second wife would live until 2006, reaching 102) and they settled in the Republic of Ireland, buying Aghinagh House in County Cork. There De Wiart lived the life of a country gentleman, shooting and fishing until his death in June 1963 at the age of 83. He is buried in the grounds of Aghinagh House.
John Combe
Brigadier Combe served his 30 days of solitary confinement at Vincigliata Castle. Upon escaping again in September 1943, Combe joined the Italian Partisans in Romagna until finally reaching Allied lines in May 1944. In October 1944 he was given command, with the reduced rank of Colonel, of the 2nd Armoured Brigade. In 1945, temporarily a Major-General, Combe briefly commanded the 78th and 46th Infantry Divisions in Austria after the German surrender. He was awarded a Mention in Despatches for his escape in 1943. In October 1946, his rank was made permanent and he was appointed Deputy General Officer Commanding British Troops Austria. Combe retired in 1947 and married the same year. Appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1947, he was also honoured by the United States, being appointed an Officer of the Legion of Merit in 1948. From 1945 to 1957 he served as Honorary Colonel of the regiment he had led in the desert against Rommel, the 11th Hussars, including taking part in the funeral procession of King George VI.
John Combe died in 1967 aged 71.
Michael Gambier-Parry
‘G-P’ escaped along with the other prisoners in September 1943 and managed to find sanctuary in a Rome convent until the Allies liberated the city. He retired from the army in 1944 and lived in Castle Combe near Chippenham. Gambier-Parry served as Deputy Lieutenant of Wiltshire and died in 1976 aged 85.
James Hargest
Hargest and Miles were stuck in Switzerland for many months with little to do following their successful escape from the castle. Both men desired to get back to Allied lines, but the only way was by travelling secretly through German-occupied France to neutral Spain and thence to England via Gibraltar. Hargest left Switzerland and with the help of a French evasion line he made it to the British Consulate in Barcelona, eventually arriving safely in England in December 1943. For his escape from Vincigliata Castle and his evasion through France Jim Hargest was awarded a second Bar to his Distinguished Service Order and made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). Sadly, his son Geoffrey died of wounds received in Italy at the Battle of Monte Cassino in March 1944. On 6 June 1944 Hargest landed in Normandy as New Zealand’s military representative attached to the British 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division. Tragically, as he was leaving the front on 12 August 1944 Hargest was killed by a German shell and was buried in France. He was 52 years old. The James Hargest High School in Invercargill, New Zealand is named after him.
John Leeming
Leeming escaped from Italian captivity by the novel method of feigning mental illness. He began this act at Vincigliata Castle and was so convincing that both the Italian Army and the Red Cross recommended his repatriation to England in April 1943, a couple of weeks after the successful tunnel escape. Leeming immediately returned to RAF duty. After the war he became a successful novelist, often touching upon his wartime imprisonment at the Villa Orsini and Vincigliata Castle. John Leeming died near Manchester in 1965 aged 69.
Reginald Miles
Jim Hargest’s partner in the tunnel escape languished in Switzerland after arriving safely in 1943. He decided to attempt the dangerous evasion across France to Spain before Hargest. He too received a Bar to his DSO for his escape. But on arrival in Spain, in a depressed and exhausted state the 50-year-old committed suicide, shooting himself in Figueras on 20 October 1943. He was buried with full military honours in Spain. Miles was posthumously appointed a CBE.
Sir Philip Neame
With Boyd, O’Connor and some other prisoners from the castle, Neame trekked hundreds of miles south following the Italian Armistice until he met Allied troops at Termoli on 20 December 1943. Arriving in Britain on Christmas Day, he found that there was no job for him. In August 1945 Neame was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Guernsey with the rank of Lieutenant-General, a post he held until 1953. He was Colonel Commandant of the Royal Engineers from 1945 to 1955, and Honorary Colonel of 131 (Airborne) Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers from 1948. Made a Knight of the Order of the British Empire in June 1946, in the same month he was also appointed a Knight of the Order of St John. In 1955 Neame was appointed a Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Kent, where he died in April 1978, aged 89.
Sir Richard O’Connor
With the help of Italian Partisans O’Connor reached Allied lines at Termoli on 21 December 1943. In the New Year he was Mentioned in Despatches for his escape attempts. O’Connor assumed command of VIII Corps during the Normandy campaign. Under his leadership, the formation took part in several famous operations around Caen and during the US breakout, including Epsom, Goodwood and Bluecoat. VIII Corps next supporte
d Brian Horrocks’ XXX Corps during Operation Market Garden in Holland. On 27 November 1944 O’Connor was removed from command, allegedly for not being tough enough on American subordinate commanders, and ordered to take over as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Command, India. This new job involved controlling the lines of communication to Bill Slim’s 14th Army in Burma. In April 1945 O’Connor was promoted to General and in October appointed GOC-in-C North West Army India. Between 1946 and 1947 he was Adjutant General to the Forces and an ADC to King George VI. O’Connor resigned in September 1947 from his military post following a disagreement, but shortly afterwards was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath.
After retirement O’Connor remained very active, being Commandant of the Army Cadet Force Scotland from 1948 to 1959, Colonel of the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) 1951–54, Lord Lieutenant of Ross and Cromarty 1955–64 and Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1964. In 1971 his service to Scotland was recognised when O’Connor was made a Knight of the Order of the Thistle. General Dick died in London in June 1981 at the age of 91.
The Earl of Ranfurly
Dan Ranfurly reached Allied lines with Brigadiers Vaughan, Combe and Todhunter on 30 May 1944 after many adventures with the Italian Partisans. He worked for Lloyd’s of London before Churchill appointed him Governor of the Bahamas, a post he held until 1957. His wife’s famous wartime diaries were published to great critical acclaim. The Countess of Ranfurly was instrumental in the creation of an organisation known today as Book Aid International. Lord Ranfurly took up farming on his estate in Buckinghamshire. He was appointed a Knight of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (KCMG). Dan Ranfurly passed away in 1988 aged 74.
Douglas Stirling
‘Pip’ Stirling was infamously prosecuted by court martial in 1943 for using insulting language about the Italians in a letter that he sent home, calling them ‘bastards’. He was sentenced to several years’ imprisonment but, honour satisfied by the verdict, the Italians returned him to the castle where the whole matter was quietly forgotten. Like the others, Stirling escaped in September 1943 and successfully arrived in Allied lines. He later wrote to General O’Connor in the hope of securing command of an armoured brigade in Normandy, but without success. Pip Stirling died in 1958 aged 61.
Castle of the Eagles Page 27