Operation Pimento : A secret mission, a sole survivor, an epic escape

August 1943: Adam Hart's great-grandfather Frank Griffiths is the only survivor of Operation Pimento, a secret World War 2 mission to disrupt supply lines from Italy into Nazi-occupied France.

Though seriously injured, Frank embarks on a perilous, 1,200-mile, 108-day escape across France, Switzerland and Spain.

August 2022: Adam Hart retraces his great-grandfather's epic journey, meeting descendants of people who'd risked their lives to help Frank, while learning much about his own powers of endurance.

Acclaimed by Andy McNab as 'A wartime classic', Operation Pimento is a vivid account of a young man's quest to discover more about a man he'd never met but always knew to be a hero.

Author: Adam Hart

France, c 1939 to c 1945 (including WW2), Biography: historical, political & military, True war & combat stories, True stories of heroism, endurance & survival, 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000, Second World War, Family history, tracing ancestors

Published on 4 Jun 2026 by Hodder & Stoughton.