Last week, I wrote about the Christmas truce of WWI to help citizens understand that it is possible to celebrate Christmas even in uncertain times. This week’s column is to encourage the faithful to pray for good outcomes during wartime.
We take for granted the defeat of Nazi Germany as a historical fact, but historians know that this was a hard-won war costing the lives of between 23 and 29 million soldiers in the European theatre. The Nazi military had areas of technological superiority over the Allies, having developed the world’s first cruise missile, the V1 and the first ballistic missile, the V2.
On December 8, 1944, General George S. Patton, of the US 3rd Army, found himself and his 250,000 men stuck in the mud and unable to break through the French region of Lorraine. Incessant rains turned the roads into “four inches of liquid mud.” Despite having taken over 50,000 casualties in the fight for Lorraine, Patton was eager to secure French territory and prepare for the final push into Germany to end the war.
Patton asked Chief Chaplain of the 3rd Army, James H O’Neill, to print 250,000 copies of the following prayer to distribute to the troops so that they could pray for favourable weather. The prayer reads as follows:
Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for the Battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies and establish Thy justice among men and nations. Amen.
This prayer was distributed December 14, 1944.
On December 16, 1944, Hitler launched 200,000 Nazi troops into Belgium in an effort to drive back the Allied armies. The troop number rose to over 500,000 in the later days of the battle. This counteroffensive is known as the Battle of the Bulge and had as its objective the retaking of the port of Antwerp in Belgium and the destruction of four Allied armies, in order to force a favourable peace treaty to end the war on Hitler’s terms.
Patton was the only general who expected the Nazis to execute the Battle of the Bulge, as Hitler had used the same Ardennes region of Belgium in 1940 to push into France and defeat the French army.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower, by contrast, had considered the Ardennes region of Belgium a low-risk sector due to its dense forest and terrain that offered good defensive positions. The US First Army was spread thinly through this region and used it as a rest and refit area while it gathered the strength to plan the final attack on Germany in 1945.
The US First Army was caught completely off guard, allowing the Germans to push into Allied lines, causing the “Bulge” on the battle maps that gave it the nickname “Battle of the Bulge.”
The elite 101st and 82nd airborne units were rushed in from France to the frontline at Belgium and managed to stop the Nazis from overtaking the key towns of Bastogne and St Vith.
These units numbered only 8,000 men each for a combined 16,000 and were facing over 200,000 Nazis, but they miraculously managed to hold the line at the cost of over 2,000 casualties.
Patton’s prayers were answered on Christmas Eve 1944, with the weather clearing up, allowing the US 3rd Army to reach into Belgium and relieve the critical town of Bastogne from a Nazi siege on December 26, 1944.
The Battle of the Bulge was the largest and bloodiest battle ever fought by the US Army, with a total of 600,000 US troops fighting in various sectors. There were over 81,000 casualties on the US side, with at least 19,000 US soldiers killed in action.
However, after the hard-won victory, the Nazi war machine ground to a halt and could no longer mount another offensive. Soviet troops closed in on Berlin from the East, and American and British troops from the West and the war came to an end in Europe on May 8, 1945.
Even as we in T&T eagerly await to see whether Nicolas Maduro will resign or Donald Trump will bomb Venezuela this December, we ought to remember the scripture in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
I admonish Trinis, Tobagonians and the wider Caribbean region to pray for a positive outcome for our entire region this Christmas.
We should learn from the example of General Patton, who, despite having the power of 250,000 soldiers under his command, knew he needed to pray and seek God’s favour to overcome obstacles beyond his control. The inclement politics of our era are a storm we must also overcome with prayer.
