Winter in the Ardennes Forest meant overcast skies, deep snow, and frigid temperatures. In the Battle of the Bulge the German Army attempted to use these conditions to their advantage. The element of surprise and lack of Allied air cover almost gave them the victory in this last-ditch campaign to stave off defeat. The fighting was brutal, and the struggle to survive the elements was equally intense. One unit of the 101st Airborne Division was reduced from 170 to 58 men within a few days of constant enemy contact fighting around Bastogne.
It was an individual soldier’s battle, as one related: “If you’re fighting a war in a ditch, the whole war is in that ditch… When you’re in a hole, pinned down by mortars and machine guns have you in a crossfire, it’s impossible to get a sense of the overall picture.”490
The toll was heavy on these isolated soldiers, fighting the enemy and the elements: “ We went seventy-two days we didn’t shower, we shaved with cold water out of a steel helmet, and washed one foot at a time; in case Germans hit us again, or you got called to attack… We had lice, scabies, and I had trench mouth so bad I could move my teeth around with my tongue.”491 On seeing these battle-weary men, a reporter observed, “Everyone seems about the same age, as if weariness and strain and the unceasing cold leveled all life.”492 The same reporter summarized the Battle of the Bulge and eloquently gave credit for the outcome where it was due:
There were many dead and many wounded, but the survivors contained the fluid situation and slowly turned it into a retreat, and finally, as the communiqué said, the bulge was ironed out. This was not done fast or easily; and it was not done by those anonymous things, armies, divisions, regiments. It was done by men, one by one your men.493
We live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
—2 Corinthians 6:9–10
German soldier surrenders. (National Archives)
Once there was a church. (Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library)
November 25
A German Soldier’s Prayer
In August 1944 the tide of the war had turned against the Axis forces. A German soldier wrote his parents a heartfelt letter expressing his concern for them and faith in God’s protection:
Dear Parents,
A time of uncertainty, apprehension and fear is now beginning for you as well. I pray sincerely that God gives you courage each day, and that you don’t sink into worry but hold onto the certainty that your prayers will be heard. Rest assured and be happy! That is my wish and my plea to you. Don’t be afraid, even during the days when you hear nothing and can know nothing about how things are for me. Everything that I experience and am permitted to live through in these times reassures me that I will be kept safe for you, for God does nothing by halves. I shall come through these dangers. God granted me life through you. For that I am always grateful to you.
Your son, Friedrich494
The prayers of this soldier and his parents were not answered in the way they wished. Friedrich was killed in September 1944, days after writing this letter. We know that thousands of other Christian families, both German and American, were disappointed in the same way during this horrendous war. Does this mean that all those prayers were in vain? I fervently believe that this was not the case. God heard every one of those prayers, and those praying received a blessing of more lasting significance than life or death on this earth. It is the amazing nature of God, the almighty creator of the universe, to also be our loving Father who allows us to approach him in our private thoughts. Through our prayers we have an opportunity to grow closer to him and to understand his desires for us. A few minutes in his presence are worth a lifetime outside of it. He doesn’t guarantee our safety, but he does guarantee to hear us and to be with us no matter how terrible our circumstance.
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
—Hebrews 4:16
November 26
Prisoner of the Lord
Lawrence Donkin served with a British infantry unit in the North African campaign. His capture by German troops in Tunisia was the start of an amazing odyssey. He was held in an Italian prisoner-of-war camp until Italy surrendered and his guards walked away. After weeks of evading the Germans he made his way to Switzerland where he was interned until 1944.
After the war Donkin returned to his home and wife in England. On a day in 1950, while starting out to sea, his wartime experiences flooded back into his memory, and he began to recall the many miraculous incidents that had enabled him to survive the war. His weapon had mysteriously jammed just before his capture, preventing him from firing at that moment, saving his life. On a dark night in Italy he had bumped into an iron bar that saved him from falling into a deep pit. Most important of all, while evading the Germans, he had picked up a New Testament lying on a schoolroom floor and had started reading it. In all these events, he became convinced that he was seeing “the preserving Hand of God and His saving grace.”495
Reading from the New Testament that he brought home from Italy, he came to Chapter 11 of Matthew and Jesus’ compelling invitation: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light”(Matthew 11:28–31 KJV). Donkin’s response to that invitation changed his life forever:
So, I was drawn to the Lord Jesus and responding to his words, “Come unto me,” I received him as my Lord and Saviour, so, I, a sinner by nature was saved… I who was a prisoner of war and escaped am now a prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ, and, after 40 years, I have never wanted to escape from him, nor will I ever want to.496
All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
—Matthew 11:27
November 27
God Is All You’ve Got
James Norton wrote to his parents on April 15, 1945, describing that day as the “second-happiest day of my life.” He was finally able to write home and to tell them about the happiest day of all: when he was liberated from a German POW camp. Norton had been wounded and captured four months earlier during the Battle of the Bulge and described his captivity as “living hell.” He also described an important change within himself as he confronted the possibility of dying:
Death has faced me many times in the past months and by the grace of my Lord and Savior I am here today to write this letter. I always considered myself a good Christian until I was captured, and then I learned what a fool I had been and what it really means to have faith and the power of prayer. I prayed day and nite, and these prayers were heard…497
This young soldier’s experience reflects a very real spiritual truth. Christians often experience a closer relationship to God during times of stress. Rick Warren described this phenomenon: “Your most profound and intimate experiences of worship will likely be in your darkest days when your heart is broken, when you feel abandoned, when you’re out of options, when the pain is great and you turn to God alone… You’ll never know that God is all you need until God is all you’ve got.”498 If we come closer to God in a stressful situation, we can be thankful that we have been so blessed. Our continuing challenge, however, is to seek God in our everyday activities, without waiting for the next crisis.
We despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God.
—2 Corinthians 1:89
November 28
I Go and Prepare a Place
The chaplain scanned the sky anxiously. After waiting for hours, he could see his airmen returning to base from the day’s mission. He counted their numbers as he tried to pray each one safely back home. He gazed at
the rain-swept runway and waited until the last plane was on the ground before facing the reality that all had not returned. With a sorrowful heart, he took the letter given him hours earlier from his pocket:
Dear Mother and Dad:
Strange thing about this letter; if I am alive a month from now, you will not receive it, for its coming to you will mean that after my twenty-fifth mission, God has decided I’ve been on earth long enough and He wants me to come up and take the examination for permanent service with Him…
Some things a man can never thank his parents enough for, they come to be taken for granted through the years: care when a child and countless favors as he grows up. I am recalling now all your prayers, your watchfulness all the sacrifices that were made for me, when sacrifice was a real thing and not just a word to be used in speeches…
I die with many things to live for. But the loss of the few remaining years unlived together is as nothing compared to the eternity to which we go, and it will be well worthwhile if I give my life to help cure a sickened world, and if you and I can help to spare other mothers and fathers and younger generations from the griefs of war…
Pray for me; be proud of me, for I am proud of you. As you have done through the years for me, so now I do for you, and await your coming to me.499
This young airman’s letter is a sad but powerful witness to a strong faith. This is the faith available to all Christians, who rest in the certain knowledge of where they are ultimately going and in the fact that loved ones will eventually be with them in that blessed place. From God’s perspective, those who go sooner are even more fortunate than those temporarily left behind.
In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
—John 14:23
November 29
Nazi Gold
In early April 1945 the little German village of Merkers fell to the lead elements of General Patton’s 3rd Army. Soon after, two military policemen stopped a pregnant French woman on the road to Merkers and gave her a ride into town. As they passed the entrance to a mine, the woman told them that this was the place where the Nazis stored their treasure. The soldiers passed this comment up the line, setting off an amazing chain of events.
It was soon discovered that the mine did indeed hoard the wealth of the Third Reich. There were more than eight thousand bars of gold bullion, more than two thousand bags of gold coins from various nations, and billions of Reichmarks stored in boxes. More than four hundred paintings were found, including works by Rembrandt, Raphael, van Dyck, Monet, Manet, and Renoir. In a separate cache, more than two hundred suitcases, trunks, and boxes were found containing jewelry, watches, dental work, gold and silver items of all kinds, and currency. This was identified as S.S. loot from private dwellings throughout Europe and from concentration camp victims.500
The contents of the Merker mine were removed to Frankfurt, Germany, where the long postwar process of restitution began. A Tripartite Gold Commission was established to get this wealth back into the hands of its rightful owners. In 1998 the Commission performed its final act by turning over its last stock of gold to the Nazi Persecution Relief Fund for Holocaust survivors.
There has probably never been a more pointed demonstration of the futility of amassing great material wealth in this life. Jesus warned that we should not store up treasures on Earth. Lasting wealth is found only in our spiritual lives. By making daily deposits of prayer and service to God, we build our accounts in his kingdom and accumulate the wealth that only comes from a relationship with him.
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
—Matthew 6:20–21
Liberation of Paris. (National Archives)
Allied commanders toast victory. (National Archives)
November 30
Our Strength and Shield
THE WAR IN EUROPE IS ENDED!
SURRENDER IS UNCONDITIONAL;
V-E WILL BE PROCLAIMED TODAY
The New York Times headline of May 8, 1945, was emphatic and joyful. The war in Europe was finally over. The victory was won. The celebrations could begin around the world. In England, at this historic moment, King George VI gave a radio broadcast and thoughtfully turned the world’s attention to God and to the obligations of the future. Starting with the words, “Today we give thanks to Almighty God for a great deliverance,” he called his nation and the world to remember God’s blessing in this great victory:
There is great comfort in the thought that the years of darkness and danger in which the children of our country have grown up are over and, please God, forever. We shall have failed, and the blood of our dearest will have flowed in vain, if the victory which they died to win does not lead to a lasting peace, founded on justice and established in good will. To that, then, let us turn our thoughts on this day of just triumph and proud sorrow; and then take up our work again, resolved as a people to do nothing unworthy of those who died for us and to make the world such a world as they would have desired, for their children and for ours.
This is the task to which now honour binds us. In the hour of danger we humbly committed our cause into the Hand of God, and He has been our Strength and Shield. Let us thank him for His mercies, and in this hour of Victory commit ourselves and our new task to the guidance of that same strong Hand.501
God’s hand was evident in many events of World War II and in the lives of many who endured it. If we ever wonder if God is still on our side as a nation, we should note the words of one of our great presidents, Abraham Lincoln: “It is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord’s side.”502
You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples. With your mighty arm you redeemed your people.
—Psalms 77:14–15
Allied commanders toast victory. (National Archives)
December
VICTORY IN THE PACIFIC
On October 20, 1944, a radio broadcast rang out through the Philippine Islands from the beaches of Leyte: “This is the Voice of Freedom, General MacArthur speaking. People of the Philippines! I have returned. By the grace of Almighty God our forces stand again on Philippine soil.” With these uplifting words the campaign to liberate this vital island chain began. Within two months Leyte was taken, and then, in January 1945, MacArthur’s forces invaded the main island of Luzon. Fighting would continue against fierce enemy resistance throughout the islands until the final surrender of Japan.
Also in October 1944 one of the greatest naval battles in history was fought as three Japanese fleets converged on Leyte Gulf in an all-out effort to destroy the landing forces assembled there. Over a three-day period the U.S. fleet sank thirty-six enemy warships, rendering the Imperial Japanese Navy largely ineffective as a fighting force. On the last day of the battle, the Americans had their first taste of a new enemy “tactic,” the suicide bomber. The aircraft carrier St. Lo was lost that day to a Kamikaze attack. By the end of the war, five thousand Japanese aviators would kill themselves this way, wreaking massive destruction on Allied ships and sailors.
By early 1945 American war planners finally faced the ultimate question of the Pacific war: how to bring about the surrender of Japan. Up until that time, the fanatical and suicidal resistance encountered in every battle seemed to prove that an invasion of the Japanese home islands would be required by the fall of the year. As these plans were formulated, two key intermediate objectives were identified: Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Both were needed for air and naval bases closer to Japan, and both were heavily defended. By this time the Japanese had developed new tactics that put their main defenses well away from the beaches, with deep bunkers and interconnecting tunnels practically impervious to air and
naval bombardment.
Instead of taking five days as estimated, the conquest of Iwo Jima took almost a month. Admiral Nimitz, commenting on the fierceness of the battle and the high casualty rate, said, “Among the Americans who served on Iwo Island uncommon valor was a common virtue.”503 The most inspiring image of the war came when a group of Marines was photographed raising an American flag on Mt. Suribachi, the most prominent terrain feature of the island.
The seizure of Okinawa was also a protracted and costly operation. Two Marine and two Army divisions made the initial assault on April 1, and it was not until late June that the island was declared secure. Casualties among the ground troops were severe, and Kamikaze attacks rained down on the ships at sea during the entire operation.
As preparations for a November invasion of the Japanese home islands continued, a B-29 bomber, flying from the Marianas Islands, dropped an atomic bomb over Hiroshima on August 6. A day later the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and invaded Korea. Then another atomic bomb was dropped, this time on Nagasaki. The powerful factions within the Japanese government that had continued to insist on a fight to the bitter end were finally silenced by the overwhelming need to stop the rain of destruction. Hostilities were brought to an end on August 15, 1945. The formal surrender ceremony was held on September 2 aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. The Japanese foreign minister, General MacArthur, and Admiral Nimitz signed the documents, followed by representatives of every Allied nation. World War II was finally and mercifully over.
Stories of Faith and Courage from World War II Page 40