Posted on 12/15/2019 7:51:36 AM PST by Kaslin
Many stories of heroism, devotion to duty, and faith have come out of the Battle of the Bulge that was fought 75 years ago this month. One of the most enduring of these stories is of Patton’s prayer.
In December 1944 the Allies, while sure to win the War in Europe against Germany, were in trouble. The Battle of the Hurtgen Forest, the longest engagement ever fought by the U.S. Army, was still raging and the Allies' advance to Germany was proceeding extremely slowly due to bad weather and stretched supply lines.
The German Army, for the first time since Frederick the Great, launched a major winter offensive. In Germany, the battle was called the Ardennes Counteroffensive but it became popularly known as the Battle of the Bulge and the goal was to split the Western Allied armies so that they would sue for a separate peace with Germany.
The Germans were initially successful in the counterattack and the Allies were hampered by poor weather even before the offensive began.
To combat the cold weather Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Commander of the Third United States Army, called in Third Army Chaplain Msgr. Francis O’Neill. Patton told Chaplain O’Neill to compose a prayer for fair weather for battle. In an hour, Chaplain O’Neill completed a tough theological task and came up with a Biblically appropriate prayer to match the General’s request. The prayer read:
“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 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.”
Patton loved the prayer and had it distributed as the first portion of a two part Christmas greeting that he had sent to the Third Army. The second, Christmas message read:
"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.”
Not long after the prayer was written and distributed, the Third Army began to pray in greater intensity. The weather began to get better and, the day after Christmas, Patton’s Army reached the famed 101st Airborne Division whom had been surrounded and valiantly defending the city of Bastogne, Belgium. While still more battles were to be fought, the Germany offensive was on its way to defeat.
The prayer of the Third Army, commissioned by General Patton, is a strong reminder of the power of prayer and also shows the boldness of an Army seeking God’s assistance in battle; not for vengeance but to establish His justice among men and nations. It is hard to imagine that such a prayer would not be quashed in the present day; not by the enemy on the field of battle, but rather crushed by the forces of political correctness.
Such leaders as General Patton, while often rocking the boat, are important in any organization especially one as resistant to change, and in need of prayer, as our beloved Army. As MSGR James O’Neill, who composed Patton’s Prayer, said about the General, “He had all the traits of military leadership, fortified by genuine trust in God, intense love of country, and high faith In the American soldier. He had no use for half-measures.”
There is much to be gained from Patton’s Prayer and may his message from 75 years ago this month continue to be a guide for United States forces throughout the world, this Christmas season and always, to victory.
They murdered him.
All faith and trust in God is crushed by the forces of political correctness (PC) because PC’s engine is the spirit of antichrist.
I can still hear George C. Scott's voice when I read that.
Always inspiring. Thank you for posting.
And another good time to thank our current armed forces people and the FReeper veterans for their service to our country.
Years ago there was an article online (Bad Sam) re Patton and his outranking Ike @ close of WWII due to temporary US vs RA rank during the war.That articleis no longer online; however is available via theWaybackMachine/Inet Archive....
Semper TRUMP.45!
GyG@PlanetWTF?/WNW!
*********************
Nonsense.
The guy who drove the truck that hit Patton’s car was from my Mom’s neighborhood. She was 13 in 1945 so she remembers him being around after the war. I need to ask her what people thought of him at the time.
Recommended reading: To Save Bastogne by Robert Phillips - An eyewitness account of the defensive action by a few US Army Divisions, among them the 28th Division, surprised and badly outnumbered at the point of attack but who nonetheless held the Wehrmacht off long enough - three days - for the 101st Airborne and others to occupy Bastogne.
https://www.amazon.com/Save-Bastogne-Robert-F-Phillips/dp/0812829077
(The 28th Division, Pennsylvania National Guard, was destroyed in action at this time.)
Also "Alamo in the Ardennes" by John C. McManus, "The Untold Story of the American Soldiers who made The Defense of Bastogne Possible" on the same subject,
https://www.amazon.com/Alamo-Ardennes-American-Soldiers-Bastogne/dp/1681620529/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_0/138-5515075-8963830?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1681620529&pd_rd_r=f5afe1a3-50a5-41a9-aed9-aaeabc88c0a0&pd_rd_w=6Qyn6&pd_rd_wg=iK0PG&pf_rd_p=5cfcfe89-300f-47d2-b1ad-a4e27203a02a&pf_rd_r=8CZ0J482GH897WTR73AC&psc=1&refRID=8CZ0J482GH897WTR73AC
and, The Bitter Woods by John S. D. Eisenhower:
https://www.amazon.com/Bitter-Woods-Battle-Bulge/dp/0306806525/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_1/138-5515075-8963830?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0306806525&pd_rd_r=f5afe1a3-50a5-41a9-aed9-aaeabc88c0a0&pd_rd_w=6Qyn6&pd_rd_wg=iK0PG&pf_rd_p=5cfcfe89-300f-47d2-b1ad-a4e27203a02a&pf_rd_r=8CZ0J482GH897WTR73AC&psc=1&refRID=8CZ0J482GH897WTR73AC
Also there are various references available on the defense of St. Vith, to the north of Bastogne, and everyplace in between.
In the German the Ardennes Offensive was known as Unternehmung Wacht am Rhein, “Operation Watch on Rhine”, partly after a German patriotic song, and partially to hide its offensive nature.
DITTO!
GyG!
*****
This reminds me of Gen. L’Hire’s (The Bastard of Orlean) prayer which he composed when Joan of Arc insisted he pray:
May God have the mercy upon L’hire
That God would want L’Hire to have on God
If God were L’Hire and L’Hire were God.
You get the feeling that L’Hire missed the whole Supreme Being thing...
HE was the one repeatedly, forcefully admonishing that we'd have to fight the Soviets --might as well fight them now.
They were overheard in a train car planning it all out.
Strung a wire across a road to take his head off, they failed.
They tried again and after the crash, Patton was conversant, mostly fine in the hospital, and fully expected to make it.
But, like Seth Rich, his area of the hospital was off-limits and he "suddenly died".
FDR's administration was chocked full of spies, and Patton was going to get in the way of their crypto-plan to transform America incrementally, on the sly.
The war Patton was urging on the leadership was expected to be expensive and the outcome would slow down the USA on her intended, glorious path to Full Progressive Modernism.
Those are the SAME people we're contending with, now, and their goals and tactics have not changed; they're confronting someone bothersome, and their aim is to Take Him Out, it's just harder, this time, as they are hundreds of cameras on him.
I can't understand how any of this should be in the least bit shocking.
Well, not yet, apparently. Perhaps the word is "assailed"?
“Assailed” is better.
“They murdered him.”
Not so much murdered as took advantage of the situation.
IIRC it was a blood clot that finally did the General in. I read somewhere that consideration and treatment for blood clots was conspicuously missing from his medical records from the accident until his death.
Most surprising since Patton had been treated several times during his career for blood clots.
Things that make you go hmmmm.
FWIW Patton had made plans to resign his commission so that he could speak openly about the mishandling of the situation in Europe post war.
Ike had taken Patton to the carpet for using former NAZI party members in his area of occupation in defiance of the allies denazification policy.
After Pattons death Ike quietly rescinded the denazification orders that he had pilloried Patton for.
More things that make you go hmmmm.
Patton was like Trump a disrupter
Ike had to use Patton the other generals were failures..
Often wonder if they had let Patton loose if the war would have ended faster...
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