In early December 1944, General George S. Patton Jr.,
commander of the United States Third Army had led his troops across France,
only to be stalled for weeks by bad weather.
Driving rains had mired his troops and grounded the fighter planes and
bombers needed for their air support.
Patton, known for his colorful language and blunt nature was a devout
Episcopalian who attended church regularly and was a staunch believer in
prayer.
On December 8, 1944, Patton, frustrated by the incessant
rain telephoned Army Chaplain James H. O’Neill, “This is General Patton. Do you have a good prayer for weather? We must do something about those rains if we
are to win the war.” Not knowing how the
prayer was to be used, Chaplain O’Neill simply replied that he would find a suitable
prayer and report to the General within the hour. After searching his several prayer books and
finding no formalized prayer to stop unrelenting rain, he went to his desk and
typed the following onto a 3” x 5” file card:
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 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.
On the
reverse side of the card was printed a Christmas Greeting from the General:
To each officer and
soldier in the Third United States Army, I Wish a Merry Christmas. I have full
confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We march in
our might to complete victory. May God's blessings rest upon each of you on
this Christmas Day.
-G.S. Patton, Jr, Lieutenant General,
Commanding, Third United States Army.
After reading the prayer, the General was pleased and
ordered all 250,000 men under his command to receive a copy of the card; then becoming
pensive asked, "Chaplain, how much praying is being done in the Third Army?"
The Chaplain replied, "I am afraid to admit it, but I
do not believe that much praying is going on. When there is fighting, everyone
prays, but now with this constant rain - when things are quiet, dangerously
quiet, men just sit and wait for things to happen. Prayer out here is difficult. Both chaplains and men are removed from a
special building with a steeple. Prayer
to most of them is a formal, ritualized affair, involving special posture and a
liturgical setting. I do not believe
that much praying is being done."
General Patton explained, “Chaplain, I am a strong believer
in prayer. There are three ways that men get what they want; by planning, by
working, and by praying. Any great
military operation takes careful planning, or thinking. Then you must have
well-trained troops to carry it out: that's working. But between the plan and the operation there
is always an unknown. That unknown
spells defeat or victory, success or failure.
Some people call that getting the breaks; I call it God. God has His part in everything. That's where prayer comes in. Up to now, in
the Third Army, God has been very good to us. We have never retreated; we have
suffered no defeats, no famine, no epidemics.
This is because a lot of people back home are praying for us. We were lucky in Africa, in Sicily, and in
Italy simply because people prayed. But
we have to pray for ourselves, too.”
He went on to talk about the Bible and said that men should
pray no matter where they were, in or out of church. He then instructed the chaplain to send a
training letter to all 486 chaplains and 3,200 commanders. The letter was titled, Training Letter No. 5”
and stated, “At this stage of the operations I would call upon the chaplains and the
men of the Third United States Army to focus their attention on the importance
of prayer.” “Urge all of your men to
pray, not alone in church, but everywhere.
Pray when driving. Pray when
fighting. Pray alone. Pray with others. Pray by night and pray by day. Pray for the cessation of immoderate rains,
for good weather for Battle. Pray for
the defeat of our wicked enemy whose banner is injustice and whose good is
oppression. Pray for victory. Pray for our Army, and Pray for Peace.” The prayer cards and the training letters
were printed and distributed by December 14th. Soldiers and officers followed the General’s
unusual orders to pray.
On the 16th, the Nazis Panzer Army took advantage
of the relentless rain, heavy fog, and thick cloud cover and launched their
surprise counter-offensive. The Battle of the Bulge had begun. For three days, the Americans were beaten
badly, finding it impossible to fight an enemy they could neither see nor
hear.
Then on the 20th, to the surprise of Allied
weather forecasters, the rains and the fogs ceased exposing German troops and providing
clear skies and nearly perfect flying weather.
American planes by the thousands knocked out German tanks and pushed
back enemy lines. It was the largest and
bloodiest battle fought by the United States in World War II involving over 610,000
American men leaving 19,246 dead, 62,489 wounded and 26,612 captured or
missing. Despite the losses, the German
Luftwaffe had been shattered and the German Army was in full retreat. Many believe this critical and decisive victory
had been won as a direct result of Patton’s plea for prayer.
Learn more at www.TheGloriousCauseOfAmerica.org
