Operation Pimento - My Great-Grandfather's Great Escape

On 14 August 1943, Squadron Leader Frank Griffiths set off on a secret mission to deliver supplies to members of the French Resistance living in occupied France. A few hours later, his plane had crashed into a village near Annecy, killing all six of his crew and five civilians. Only Frank survived. What happened next was extraordinary: badly injured and slipping in and out of consciousness, Frank embarked on an epic 1,400-mile, 108-day escape from the Nazis. Assisted by ordinary people - children, villagers, farmers, rebels and soldiers - he managed to make his way to safety in Gibraltar, via a Frenchwoman''s chimney, the attic over a brothel and a Spanish prison cell, not to mention an arduous trek over the Pyrenees. But Frank''s story does not end there. 79 years later, his great-grandson Adam Hart set out to follow Frank''s escape route. Step for step Adam recreated his ancestor''s journey and met the descendants of the people who had risked their lives to help Frank on his way, breathing new life into Frank''s heroic tale and keeping his great-grandfather''s memory alive. Operation Pimento is a riveting tale of danger, bravery and legacy - as told by the voice of a new generation.

Product details

• Authors: Adam Hart, Hart Adam
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 10.07.2025
• EAN: 9781399740135
• ISBN: 978-1-399-74013-5
• No. of pages: 272
• Dimensions: 162 mm x 236 mm x 30 mm
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > 20th century (up to 1945); Non-fiction book > History > Biographies, autobiographies; Biography: historical, political & military, True war & combat stories, TRAVEL / Special Interest / Adventure, HISTORY / Military / Veterans, Second World War, Family history, tracing ancestors, c 1938 to c 1946 (World War Two period), True stories of heroism, endurance & survival, True stories of heroism, endurance and survival, True war and combat stories, Biography: historical, political and military, HISTORY / Wars & Conflicts / World War II / General