History, Politics & Society
Cousins, Captain Chris Waters of the Royal Engineers and Captain Jimmy Johnson of the Royal Welch Fusiliers were with the British Expeditionary Force in the defence of Dunkirk. In late May 1940, Jimmy (son-in-law of Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Keyes) was shot and captured near the Belgium border. Chris was captured after his regiment, which was attached to the 51st Highland Division, was forced to surrender at St-Valéry.
Both men managed to escape their German captors and, accompanied by fellow officers, began separately to work their way through France into Spain. Having crossed the Pyrenees they were both re-captured but by an extraordinary coincidence met up in Barcelona.
Chris and Jimmy recorded their escape in journals with Jimmy also writing many letters home from internment in France. Eventually the escapees, now in a large group, were released and arrived in Gibraltar. It was not the safe haven they had hoped for. One last cruel twist of fate would deny some of them a return home.
Here's what readers have to say about this book....
This beautifully produced book is a tour de force of meticulous research, accessible historical writing, and personal passion. The balance between the numerous primary sources and the highly readable narrative makes for a fast moving, page turning account. I particularly enjoyed the numerous drawings, maps, journal entries, personal letters, and photographs which beautifully support the story, 'a tribute to the courage, optimism, and determination of the human spirit'. As the actor (Captain [retired] Royal Welch Fusiliers) William 'Bill' Roache says in the preface, '(the tale) is told with good humour and in a spirit of old-fashioned British ingenuity'. As I read the final page of From a Hard Place to a Rock, I was left with the overwhelming impression that this book would be perfect for adaptation to a feature film, especially in the hands of a capable director such as John Madden of Operation Mince Meat fame or Tom Hooper the British-Australian director of The King's Speech.
An excellent book that covers a topic little discussed or taught. The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) had a disastrous start to the second world war, but is often overlooked for the later victories achieved by the Allied forces in Europe in later years. I would highly recommend this to someone interesting in learning more about the early years of World War II.
A sparkling but detailed account of four brave soldiers of the BEF and those who helped and travelled with them through war-torn France and Spain, demonstrating the courage, determination and ingenuity of men anxious to return home. This will be of interest to the general reader as well as the military historian and add a further chapter to the distinguished history of the Corps of Royal Engineers, a regiment in which I was proud to serve.
Jimmy Johnson’s daughter Sara was a chum of mine. We shared a flat in London. On our visits to the family home in Tingewick for weekends, Jimmy was invariably hospitable, funny and unflappable but underneath you could detect the steel will that had barred him from settling for life in a PoW camp. Nothing would stop him getting home to his beloved wife Diana and to his regiment so he could get back into the war. Sara was immensely proud of her father’s epic escape, accomplished in spite of his near-fatal injuries. This book is an affectionate and thoroughly researched tribute to a small band of brave and determined men. It’s important for their story to be told.
I remember Jimmy Johnson in later life, bowed but never broken. In 1997 he came with other veterans to the dedication of the memorial at St-Venant, where he had been wounded and captured in 1940. I thought then that whenever I and my generation considered we had had a tough time on operations, even in Iraq and Afghanistan, we had seen nothing compared to what Jimmy and his contemporaries went through. This book is a vivid and at times humbling reminder of just what those men did - it was courage like theirs that brought our country through the war and to the defeat of Germany and Japan.
