Philip Neame (1888-1978) escaped on 8 September 1943 from PG 12, the castle of Vincigliata, with General O’Connor and Air Marshall Boyd, heading to the Florence train station to avoid being captured by the Germans who were approaching from Bologna. In total, eleven high officers and fourteen other ranks managed to escape the PG. They took a train to Arezzo, where Neame took refuge in a vineyard near the town.

At seven in the evening, two vehicles with Italian drivers arrived to pick up the escapees, who were brought forty miles northwards to the Camaldoli hospice on the Apennines. Here, Neame spent four days under the protection of a Camaldolese priest, but he soon decided to walk away into the mountains to avoid the risk of a German raid on their hideout. Four officers, including him, thus left and reached the Eremo monastery, about one kilometre away from Camaldoli, where they were welcomed by the Camaldolsei prior general and another priest, Don Leoni, whom the prior instructed on how to handle the relationship with the escaped PoWs.

After a few days, Neame, O’Connor, and Boyd decided to resume their movements across the mountains and only return to the monastery to get food or shelter when the weather was bad. However, the Germans arrived in Camaldoli and Eremo, forcing the escapees to leave the area. Some found refuge in the hamlet of “Segeteina”, while others, including Neame, went to Strabatenza, in Emilia-Romagna.

At the end of September, Neame received a visit from an Italian officer, Bruno Vailati, who was in touch with the Allied special forces in charge of rescuing escaped Allied PoWs. The plan they discussed was for the escapees to move from Livorno to the Adriatic coast near Ancona and then cross the frontline by sea using a boat arranged for them by the special forces. Their march was guided by Signor Nanni and his son, who soon became precious friends for Neame and the other escaped PoWs. While they were in the village of Santa Sofia, they were warned multiple times of enemy raids and were forced to hide and live in the nearby woods for a while.

On 30 October, Neame received a surprising letter from the Eremo monastery’s prior general, who informed him that soon a British officer would arrive to assist them. Neame and his companions returned to Eremo to speak in person with Don Leoni, who informed the prisoners about the route they had to follow, along with an Italian guide assigned to lead them to the British agent. After they spent the night in the barn, the next morning at dawn, Neame and his group, guided by Maurizio, the miller from Strabatenza, arrived at the monastery, where Signor Cagnazzo was waiting for them. He provided the soldiers with bicycles, which they used to head toward Pesaro. 

For the first rescue attempt, Neame and the other prisoners were taken to the beach at Cattolica by the two lieutenants and by Cagnazzo, who, after spotting the boat, rowed to the designated location for pickup by a motorboat heading south. The attempt failed, and the prisoners were forced to return to the city, where they found shelter with a British officer, Major Tilloy, who lived there. Other attempts were made in the following months without success, one in particular in Cesena, where Neame and his companions rode bicycles and stayed for about a week at Signor Spazzoli’s house. Despite the British soldiers’ frustration over the numerous failures, a fifth escape plan was organised in Cervia, but once again, the operation proved unsuccessful, as the city’s port was under Nazi-fascist control.

On 28 November, the sixth attempt to escape using a boat from the port of Cervia also failed, forcing Neame and his companions to change their hiding place and move to another villa. A series of alerts due to Nazi-fascist raids forced the soldiers to split into two groups: Boyd hid at Signo Sovera’s hotel, while Neame and O’Connor stayed at Mrs. Tellessio’s house. Bruno Vailati, the young Italian officer, returned and this time proposed that the prisoners follow him to Riccione, with the goal of reaching Cingoli in the Marche region, in the province of Macerata, from where they could escape by sea once they arrived at Civitanova Marche on the coast. Once again, the plan proved unsuccessful, and so Neame and his companions were forced to attempt, for the eighth time, an escape from Cattolica.

Upon reaching the city of Riccione, Neame and the other prisoners were given shelter in the villa of Signor Arpesella, who handed each of the Allied soldiers one hundred thousand lire to give to the captain of the boat that was to pick them up the next day. On 18 December 1943, the three men went to the beach and anxiously waited for the motorboat, which, against all odds, arrived at the designated spot and finally took them on board. Finally, on 19 December, the boat landed in Termoli, in the Molise region, where Neame, General O’Connor, and Air Marshal Boyd received a warm welcome from the Allied troops. In Bari, the three officers were greeted personally by Generals Alexander and Eisenhower, who assured them they would be sent home in time for the Christmas holidays. After leaving Italy, the soldiers arrived in Tunis, where further celebrations were held in their honour.