Facing Fearful Odds
John JayThis is the story of Rifleman Alec Jay, a Territorial Army infantryman whose unit was thrown into the defence of Calais, and effectively decimated. Against overwhelming odds the Calais garrison held out for four
- Author
- John Jay
- Publisher
- Pen & Sword
- Price
- £25
- Published
- 2015
Facing Fearful Odds by John Jay
This is the story of Rifleman Alec Jay, a Territorial Army infantryman whose unit was thrown into the defence of Calais, and effectively decimated. Against overwhelming odds the Calais garrison held out for four long days. Finally, over-run, the survivors were herded into makeshift holding areas prior to setting out on the long march to a POW camp, in Jay’s case to Stalag VIIIB at Lamsdorf in the Sudetenland. Jay remained a POW until March 1945. This is a story, written by his son, of Alec’s time as a POW, but in his case with a difference – he was Jewish! Despite this, Alec Jay did survive, and the book recounts his experiences in a variety of work camps. He made four unsuccessful attempts to escape, but from the evidence these were rather “on the spur of the moment” efforts without much planning. As a result he was recaptured each time. He finally returned home to England on the 15th May 1945, weighing only 7 stone and almost five years to the day since he was captured at Calais.
This is an interesting story, but unfortunately Alec did not leave much in the way of material for his son to use to write this book. As a result sizeable “chunks” are devoted to his life in the TA before the war, his family upbringing, the life of some of his friends, German policy directives etc. Alec Jay endured what many others did, except he always lived under the threat of his Jewish identity being discovered. That said, the book is well written with useful maps and interesting photos and will be of interest to anyone looking for a soldier’s tale of captivity.
ISBN 1473827345. Pen & Sword. £25.