It is been recorded that on 8 May 1945, victory in Europe was joyfully proclaimed. The Allied forces had accomplished their mission. The whole continent of Western Europe had been liberated.
Mr. Churchill made a speech in which he proclaimed that…
I recollect well at the end of the last war, more than a quarter of a century ago, that the House when it heard the long list of surrender terms, the armistice terms, which had been imposed upon the Germans, did not feel inclined for debate or business, but desired to offer thanks to Almighty God, to the Great Power which seems to shape and design the fortunes of nations and the destiny of man; and I therefore beg, sir, with your permission to move “That this House do now attend at the Church of St. Margaret, Westminster, to give humble and reverent thanks to Almighty God for our deliverance from the threat of German domination.
Rev. David E. Gardner who spent many years of his life sounding the trumpet wrote,
I well remember V.E. Day. London was rejoicing. The royal family, the Prime Minister, the Service chiefs, and members of the Cabinet, all appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace before a joyful and tumultuous throng. It was a proud moment in our history. The Service chiefs came to the microphone in turn, made short speeches, and paid tribute to the part which their respective arm of the Services had played in bringing about this great victory.
The Prime Minister spoke – the one who had always been conscious of that overruling providence, that guiding, guardian hand. He must have come straight from the Thanksgiving Service in St. Margaret’s Westminster. His Majesty King George VI then stepped quietly to the microphone. I can still hear his voice today, as he said with great emphasis:
We give thanks to Almighty God for the Victory He has granted us in Europe
It brought things to the right crescendo. The godly Sovereign who, by his inspiring leadership, had caused Britain and the Commonwealth to turn to God for help at each of the critical points during the war, and who, in consequence, had been largely responsible for causing Britain to spend no less than twenty-six days and two whole weeks in urgent prayer, was now publicly proclaiming before the entire world where the honour was rightly due. He did so quietly, humbly, but yet firmly.
Saved For a Purpose
There were voices in the nation who were striking an additional note. Some of those in high positions believed that we had been saved for a purpose, and they began saying so. Certain of my critics refuse to believe this, but here some of the evidence.
William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, during a sermon in St Paul’s Cathedral on ‘Battle of Britain’ Sunday, 26 September 1943, said:
We may, and we must believe, that he who has preserved our land in a manner so marvellous, has a purpose for us to serve.
The Bishop of Chelmsford, in an article published in the Sunday Chronicle in April 1945 wrote:
If ever a great nation was on point of supreme and final disaster, and yet was saved and reinstated, it was ourselves. We have been saved for a purpose. We have a mission to discharge in the world.
Mr L. D. Gammans, MP, when broadcasting in March 1942 on the miracles of Dunkirk and the way we were saved from invasion asked:
But why were we saved then? It was not that we could go back to our football matches, our dog tracks, our winter sports in Switzerland, our industrial squabbles and out party bickering. I believe that we were saved then, because, in spite of the past twenty years, there was still something worth saving, still a task we had to do.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, a deeply spiritual and most discerning man, on the occasion when he was sharing his conviction that he could trace the intervention of God though the Battle of Britain to alter the sequence of events in that battle and in the period which led up to it, asserted:
That intervention of God was no last-minute happening. It was a part of the mighty plan.
Others went even further than that. They said that not only had we been saved for a purpose, but that we ought to find what that purpose was.
Sir Archibald Sinclair, the Air Minister, was one of them. He put it this way:
God has delivered us and brought us to our present position for some great purpose and mow we must seek humbly to discover what that purpose is and then be faithful to it.
Sir Hugh Dowding was, perhaps, the man who came very near to discovering the purpose when he said it had to do with ‘the part that our dear country is to take in the regeneration of the world.’
In other words, he saw that it was of a spiritual nature. But apart from his insight, the evidence suggests that no one in Britain really did discover what it was.
Yet there is a clue, which I came across in the course of a different search, and which may serve as a pointer to that supreme purpose. I believe, too, that the Lord led me to make this discovery. I was looking for further information as to why it was that Rommel suddenly stopped at the gates of Cairo in 1942.
So I went to Hatchards in Piccadilly to find out what books they had on the Middle East War, and there spotted a book with one word Rommel in large white letters on the spine. I took it out and knew instinctively that this was what I needed.
I was staying at a friend’s house in Mersey Island at the time, and when I got back there, it was such a lovely sunny afternoon that I took the book out into the garden to read. Whilst searching for information about the campaign in North Africa, I suddenly came across something else.
And when I did so, I was so arrested by it, that I found myself pacing up and down for hours. It seems that here was the missing piece of a puzzle at which I had been looking for years. Here was the clue which threw some light on what may have been the purpose for which we had been saved.
What I discovered was that when Field Marshal Rommel returned to Germany from North Africa in March 1943, he began to see for himself the evil of the Hitler regime.
For the first time, he began to learn from German officers what atrocities the dreaded Gestapo and SS had been carrying out in Poland and Russia, and what they were still doing in the occupied countries of Western Europe. He learnt of the gas chambers, the mass extremism of Jews, the persecution of the churches, the concentration camps, the slave labour, the battle of the Warsaw ghetto, and all manner of other things.
He was appalled. Going straight to Hitler with these discoveries, he said, ‘If such things are allowed to go on, we shall lose the War’, and asked that they should cease forthwith. Hitler left no doubt in Rommel’s mind that he had not the slightest intention of changing his methods.
Rommel brooded over these matters throughout that summer, realising that Hitler—whom he described privately as ‘the Devil incarnate’—was leading Germany to ruin. With such evils being perpetuated, he saw that Germany could do nothing else but perish.
Then he found that there those in responsible positions in Germany who were equally concerned and troubled, and that, furthermore, they were looking to him for the solution. They regarded him as the soul of honour, as Germany’s greatest general, as the man who already had the confidence of the German people, and as someone who had the courage to act.
During an interview which lasted between five and six hours, the situation was put to him. For some time, Rommel thought over what had been discussed, and then said: I believe it is my duty to come to the rescue of Germany.
Now comes the revelation which so arrested me that it caused me to pace up and down so long! Rommel’s will to act was fortified by a secretly prepared Draft Peace Treaty which, soon after, was put into his hands. It was a Peace Treaty (and I quote) ‘founded on the idea of uniting Europe on the basis of Christianity’ (the italics are mine).
This draft Treaty proposed (and again I quote) ‘the abolition of frontiers and bringing about the return of the masses to the Christian faith.’
I was staggered when I read this. I could hardly believe my eyes. Surely this was where we went wrong! That treaty’s proposal was not to bring about a Common Market—nothing so materialistic!
It was to bring the people of Europe to a common faith in Jesus Christ. the vision was of an United Europe founded on the basis of Christianity, just as this country (England) once brought to that point in her history when she became ‘one coherent kingdom based on Christianity.
The Draft Treaty added: ‘Only thus could the threat of Bolshevism (communism) be defeated.’
It is recorded that Rommel found this idea both moving and convincing and was anxious that the Draft Peace Treaty should be published when the opportunity presented itself. It was now for him to create that opportunity, for he saw that it could be the salvation of Europe. Please note those words.
From then on he sought to do two things together. As a soldier he was already entrusted with the task of defeating the Allied invasion on the beaches, and he devoted himself to that task with all the powers he could muster, even though he knew within himself that the invasion could not, in fact, be defeated.
At the same time he was secretly committed to making an approach to the Allies and proposing an armistice to Generals Eisenhower and Montgomery—both known to him as Christian soldiers. Had he been able to make the approach, undoubtedly he would have discussed this vision of the new Europe with them.
Unfortunately for all of us, he was severely wounded before he could compare his plan of action, and whilst he was still recovering from these wounds, the dreaded Nazi secret police called on him and forced him to take poison. So he perished before he could put his vision into operation.
However, he did share the whole idea with his son Manfred, who was fifteen years old at the time. In order to complete this part of the record, I would add that I have since been in correspondence with Manfred Rommel, who became Mayor of Stuttgart, and in a letter received on Christmas Day 1974 he said:
I still have the vision of a united Europe based on Christianity.
His father’s vision had become his own. Maybe it is still not too late to see that vision implemented. Rommel perished at the enemy’s hand—his and ours—so it was left to this country, and to its leadership, to discover the great purpose for which we had been saved.
Excerpted from The Trumpet Sounds For Britain David E. Gardner © copyright 2003, published by Jesus is Alive Ministries.
Recommended Reading: Desmond Young, Rommel, Collins, London 1950
