Richard O'Connor (who had been rapidly dispatched to join Neame's Headquarters by General Archibald Wavell who was alarmed at the apparent collapse of Neame's forces) and Brigadier John Combe, were over-run and captured by a German advanced force led by Gerhard von Schwerin. Disaster was averted for the majority of the forces under Neame's command through a rapid retreat by the 9th Australian Division into the coastal town of Tobruk, where it was joined by 3 Indian Motor Brigade, and surviving remnants of 2nd Armoured Division (most of which had been over-run and captured in the rout), in hastily organising a defensive perimeter, which would go on to withstand the Axis Forces' subsequent extended siege. Prisoner of war in Italy Along with the almost 3000 men of the 2nd Armoured Division who had been captured in Rommel's advance, Neame with generals O'Connor and Combe were transported across the Mediterranean Sea for incarceration in Italy, first being held as prize prisoners at the Villa Orsini near Sulmona, then at Castello di Vincigliata PG12 near Florence. Whilst at PG12 they took part in a number of escape attempts along with General Adrian Carton de Wiart (a fellow VC recipient), and Edward Todhunter. After the successful escape of six men through a tunnel that Neame had designed in April 1943, including two New Zealander brigadiers James Hargest and Reginald Miles who disappeared in the direction of Switzerland, the Italian Army in reprisal sent Neame's batman Gunner Pickford (Royal Horse Artillery) to another camp. Following the Italian Armistice in September 1943, Neame was released from incarceration by the Italian Army, but faced a hazardous journey of several hundred miles through a semi-chaotic countryside, at that time still occupied by German forces, in areas at conflict with the Italians, to reach the safety of the joint British and American lines. Having hidden a manuscript which he had been writing in captivity of his memoires (to be recovered after the war), Neame's party, including Air Marshal Owen Boyd and General Richard O'Connor, made their way southwards with the help of friendly Italians along the route. Hiring a boat at Cattolica they sailed to the port of Termoli which by the time of their arrival on 20 December 1943 had fallen into the possession of the advancing Allied armies. Repatriation to England Arriving back in England on 25 December 1943, having travelled via Tunis (after interviews with