The Prayer that changed the Battle and the War!
There are times when life circumstances, your enemy, and the weather is all against you and you need God. In December of 1944, General George Patton faced them all. The steady rain was so heavy and unrelenting in Nancy, France that the Army was unable to fight. As a result, General Patton called for his Chaplain to write a prayer for his army.
The movie “Patton” tells the story, but it does not tell the entire story. James O’Neill, Chief Chaplain of the Third Army, set the record straight in an official government document that was published in 1950.
General Patton was a practicing Episcopalian and a strong believer in the power of prayer. Patton said, “We must do something about those rains if we are to win the war.” Chaplain O’Neill composed the prayer and presented it to the General for his approval.
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.
The General ordered that the prayer be given to all the Third Army. Patton then asked the chaplain how much time the troops spent in prayer. O’Neill responded, “Very little.” General Patton replied:
“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. It is the reaction of the actors to the ordeal when it actually comes. Some people call that getting the breaks; I call it God.
God has His part, or margin 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, and 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.
A good soldier is not made merely by making him think and work. There is something in every soldier that goes deeper than thinking or working–it’s his ‘guts’. It is something that he has built in there: it is a world of truth and power that is higher than himself. Great living is not all output of thought and work. A man has to have intake as well. I don’t know what you call it, but I call it Religion, Prayer, or God.”
The General then asked his Chaplain to issue a ‘training letter’ on prayer to all the Third Army chaplains. He explained:
“We must ask God to stop these rains. These rains are that margin that holds defeat or victory… It will be like plugging in on a current whose source is in Heaven. I believe that prayer completes that circuit. It is power.”
The following day General approved Training Letter No. 5 to the ‘Chaplains of the Third Army’. It went not only to the 486 chaplains, but also to each organization commander, including the regimental ones.
That Training Letter reads in part as follows:
Those who pray do more for the world than those who fight; and if the world goes from bad to worse, it is because there are more battles than prayers…
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…
We must march together, all out for God. The soldier who ‘cracks up’ does not need sympathy or comfort as much as he needs strength. We are not trying to make the best of these days. It is our job to make the most of them. Now is not the time to follow God from ‘afar off.’ This Army needs the assurance and the faith that God is with us. With prayer, we cannot fail.
Chaplain O’Neill’s words were followed by a brief, signed message from General Patton.
The next day, the weather cleared and remained perfect for about six days while the Third Army pushed north to relieve the 101st Airborne at Bastogne.
Chaplain O’Neill recalled what happened: Our planes came over… knocked out hundreds of tanks, killed thousands of enemy troops in the Bastogne salient, and harried the enemy as he valiantly tried to bring up reinforcements…[Patton’s] 4th, 9th, and 10th Armored Divisions, saved Bastogne, and other divisions which assisted so valiantly in driving the Germans home…General Patton prayed for fair weather for Battle. He got it.
After the Battle Patton wrote in his diary to God: “Sir, this is Patton again and I beg to report complete progress . . . Sir, it seems to me that you have been much better informed about the situation than I was, because it was that awful weather which I cursed so much which made it possible for the German army to commit suicide. That, Sir, was a brilliant military move; and I bow humbly to a supreme military genius.”
~Chaplain John Hicks
Yamhill County Sheriff’s Office
McMinnville, Oregon