D-Day Prayer

My former pastor once pointed out that on D-Day, President Roosevelt asked employers if they would give their employees the day off to pray for the troops.  Although the weather was questionable for an invasion on the Normandy beaches that day, although the Germans had panzer tanks ready, although the odds were stacked against them, the Allies went ahead with the invasion.  My pastor believes that it was prayer which gave them a much needed edge.  The weather co-operated.  Hitler's two top men were out of the country at the time and Hitler was still in bed with orders not to be disturbed.  Therefore the Allies were able to launch a surprise attack which was successful.  Here is the radio address that President Roosevelt delivered that fateful day.

My Fellow Americans:

Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our Allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far.
And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:
Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.
Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.
They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.
They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest -- until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war.
For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.
Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.
And for us at home -- fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas, whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them -- help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.
Many people have urged that I call the nation into a single day of special prayer (my italics).  But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.
Give us strength, too -- strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.
And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.
And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. Let not the keeness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment -- let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.
With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace -- a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.
Thy will be done, Almighty God.
Amen.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt - June 6, 1944

Photo of President Roosevelt reading D-Day prayer courtesy http://1.bp.blogspot.com.

World War II By Numbers

1.  The Allies dropped 3.4 million tons of bombs from 1939 to 1945.

2.  More Russians (soldiers and civilians) lost their lives at the 900-day Siege of Leningrad than did American and British combined in World War II.

Photo of Siege of Leningrad courtesy www.jmeshel.com. 

3.  The American factories built 650,000 Jeeps, 300,000 military aircraft and 89,000 tanks during World War II.

4.  Nazis murdered 12 million people including 6 million Jews during the Holocaust ("whole burnt").

5.  Despite risking their lives many individuals helped save Jewish lives:  Oskar Schindler, Raoul Wallenberg and Chiune Sugihara all saved thousands.  The entire Jewish community was saved in Denmark, evacuated by boat before the Nazis arrived.

Schindler's List courtesy http://libweb.lib.buffalo.edu. 

6.  In 1941, a private earned $21 a month; by 1942 his salary was raised to $50 a month.

7.  German U-boats sank 2000 Allied ships during the course of the war.

8.  In 1928, less than 3 % of Germans voted for the Nazi Party.  By 1933, Hitler came to power.  By 1938, he was voted Times' Man of the Year.

9.  A Japanese soldier hid in a Pacific island jungle for 29 years before he surrendered, not realizing the war was long over.

10.  Despite the proliference of tanks and jeeps on the Western Front, the Soviet and German armies employed over 6 million horses for land operations.

Photo of German horses stuck in the mud in Russia courtesy http://upload.wikimedia.org. 

The Trakhener Horse

“Every man in East Prussia had the right to own a breeding stallion.  That stallion had to be presented for approval every year.  These private stallions were only allowed to cover mares that were selected as not worthy to be covered by state stud stallions.  Failure to meet these criteria resulted in a fine of two thaler.”

Stud farm courtesy www.trakehners-interanational.com.

Trakehnen, a town in the Gumbinnen district of East Prussia, was home to one of the biggest agricultural farms in the province.  It housed 900 cows, 600 sheep and thousands of horses.  King Friedrich Wilhelm I ordered 1100 horses for Trakehnen.  With a 400 year history, the Trakehner horse, bred in East Prussia, was the oldest of the warmblood breeds.  The oldest existing German stud book dates back to 1623.  

The Trakehner was a tall horse at 15.2 to 17 hands.  It came in the colours bay, gray, chestnut and black.  It had great versatility and endurance.  A horse was treated like a king at Trakehnen:  it galloped all over a paddock encircled by trees rather than fences.  It was well fed, well groomed and well trained.  

While it was engineered as an East Prussian workhorse, it was also used for fox hunting, racing and as a calvary mount; in fact it was the horse of choice for German officers.  Trakehners carried soldiers into battle at Waterloo against Napoleon in 1814.  During the battle and its aftermath, Prussia lost 75,000 horses, many of which ended up in Russia.  The Trakehner was sought after by the military in other European countries too.  By 1918, 60,000 mares were bred to East Prussian stallions each year.  

Trakehners competed in every Olympic Games but 1932.  In 1924, Trakenher Piccolomini won gold and Sabel won silver, both in the dressage event.  Nine thirty six was declared “The Year of the Trakehner” in which the breed won a gold medal in dressage (Kronos) as well as a silver medal in dressage (Sabel).  Trakehners also won the three day eventing gold medal at the Olympics along with the German Jumping Team Prix des Nations.  Between 1921 and 1936 Trakehners won the Czech Steeplechase nine times. 

Sadly, many of the breed were killed in battle during the First World War, its numbers cut in half.  Even more Trakehners were killed, froze to death or succumbed to disease during the Second World War, bringing it to near extinction (179,000 on the Eastern Front alone).  In fact, 80 % of the Germany Army rode on horseback.  The Trakehners pulled everything the soldiers needed either on horseback or by wagon.  The Germans could not mass produce automobiles the way the Americans did and did not have the same easy access to fuel.  The hundreds of thousands of horses needed the support of 37000 farriers and 236 companies of vets, the latter treating them and returning 70 to 75% of them to the battlefield.  

Eight hundred of the best mares were evacuated to the West in October of 1944 when the Red Army was on East Prussia's doorstep. Many East Prussian refugees mounted Trakehners for the 600 mile journey to safety, the Red Army at their heels.  Many suffered open wounds from shrapnel and the burlap bags froze to their feet.  Their horses often starved, drowned, froze to death, were shot or captured by the Russians.  The captured horses were taken to Kirov; these horses would become the ancestors of the Russian Trakehner.  The English Army took the best black and chestnut colts for the Royal Cavalry in London.  Out of 25,000 broadmares and 1200 stallions, only 1500 reached their destination in Germany proper.   The last original Trakehner was “Keith” who was born in 1941 and died in 1976.  The East Prussian Studbook Society dissolved on October 23, 1947.  

This black gelding named Absinth won a silver and gold medal at the 1936 Berlin Olympics courtesy http://www.trakehners-international.com/history/idealdress.html.