Eighty years ago yesterday, the nightmare of World War ii ended in Europe. Around the world, major celebrations were held as nations remembered their dead and memorialized their history.

Yet a vital aspect of this history was overlooked. Throughout the war, King George vi of England, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt placed great emphasis on prayer. Generals, politicians and news anchors all acknowledged God’s intervention. Newspapers told their readers they needed to do more than simply pray—they needed to submit their will to God.

Yesterday, some went to church for a memorial service. But how many know the true story that World War ii is a powerful testament to the power of prayer?

The world is quickly sliding into a similar crisis. “On the 80th anniversary of V-E Day, the world is edging ever closer to another apocalyptic conflagration,” wrote Allister Heath in the Telegraph. “The situation feels hopeless,” he lamented.

Only a true account of this history points us to the only way out and the only sure hope.

The Miracle at Dunkirk

One of Britain’s first acts after declaring war on Germany on Sept. 3, 1939, was to schedule a nationwide day of prayer for October 1. As leaders gathered in Westminster Abbey, they were told that this war was also a spiritual struggle. “In this great crisis of history they began to know by experience what men meant when they spoke of demonic powers,” wrote the Times in summarizing the sermon that day.

The next spring, those “demonic powers” were close to victory. On April 9, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway. A month later it invaded Belgium, the Netherlands and France.

As the nation held another day of prayer on May 26, 1940, the war seemed almost over. Over 400,000 Allied soldiers were trapped on the shores of northern France. The British Army was set to be wiped out with a single stroke.

The Navy planned to evacuate the soldiers, but best-case projections expected 45,000 to be rescued at most. Over 300,000 soldiers would be a powerful bargaining chip for Adolf Hitler—perhaps enough for him to force Britain’s capitulation.

Winston Churchill felt this day of prayer was so important that he insisted that many government ministers and top officials join him and the king at Westminster Abbey to pray. The Home Office objected—one bomb could wipe out the entire leadership. Churchill overrode the objection.

“It is well for us to show the world that we still believe in divine guidance; in the laws of Christianity may we find inspiration and faith from this solemn day,” declared British Pathé, the newsreel then shown in cinemas—the equivalent of the nightly news in an era before in-home tv sets were common.

Afterward, the archbishop of Canterbury called on everyone to pause at noon every day and pray for deliverance. Newspapers even gave advice on how to pray.

The result: 338,000 soldiers were rescued from Dunkirk in what Churchill called a “miracle of deliverance.”

A grateful nation held a day of thanksgiving on June 9. “One thing can be certain about tomorrow’s thanksgiving in our churches,” wrote the Telegraph. “From none will the thanks ascend with greater sincerity or deeper fervor than from the officers and men who have seen the hand of God, powerful to save, delivering them from the hands of a mighty foe, who, humanly speaking, had them utterly at his mercy.”

The Daily Telegraph wrote on July 8, “Those who are accustomed to the Channel testify to the strangeness of this calm; they are deeply impressed by the phenomenon of nature by which it became possible for tiny craft to go back and forth in safety.”

“I have talked to officers and men who have gotten safely back to England, and all of them tell of these two phenomena,” continued the article. “The first was the great storm which broke over Flanders on Tuesday, May 28, and the other was the great calm which settled on the English Channel during the days following.” The storm grounded the German aircraft, while the calm allowed the little ships to sail to France.

Sadly, on the 80th anniversary of the evacuation, the same newspaper changed its tune. “The Dunkirk Evacuation Was No ‘Miracle’” ran one of its headlines.

The Battle of Britain

Those crucial days in May meant Britain didn’t lose the war. But tough days were ahead. On Aug. 1, 1940, Hitler issued War Directive No. 17: “The German Air Forces must with all means in their power and as quickly as possible destroy the English Air Force.”

“British replacement pilots were often easy prey for the more experienced Luftwaffe pilots,” wrote Ira Peck in his book The Battle of Britain. “As for the experienced Fighter Command pilots, the strain of flying seven or eight sorties a day was producing a terrible weariness in them. … Fighter Command was slowly but surely being bled to death. Only a miracle could save it from destruction.”

With young men dying in the air, the king issued a special call for the youth to hold a day of prayer on August 11. On September 8, the Sunday after Britain’s entry into the war, the whole nation held one.

It came the day after “black Saturday,” the first day of the blitz. German bombers dropped hundreds of tons of high explosives on London. They returned at night, using the fires to guide them as they rained down more bombs.

The bombing of London and other major cities spared the Royal Air Force, allowing it to regather badly needed strength. But the government feared British morale would break under the pressure, forcing the nation into a shameful surrender.

The ordinary men and women of England had not suffered this much from a foreign invader for 1,000 years. Yet they did not break. Today it is common for British leaders to talk about the “spirit of the blitz”—the remarkable high morale as neighbors supported each other, kept calm, and carried on as their homes were destroyed around them. But they don’t talk about the prayer that sustained that spirit.

The Royal Air Force also miraculously survived. Hitler threw everything he could at it. Yet by mid-September, when the seas became too rough for the flat-bottom German river barges to transport troops, it was still in the air. Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium and France had fallen—but Britain fought on.

“At the end of the battle one had the feeling that there had been some special divine intervention to alter some sequence of events which would otherwise have occurred,” said raf Air Chief Marshall Hugh Dowding. “I see that this intervention was no last-minute happening … it was all part of the mighty plan …. I say with absolute conviction that I can trace the intervention of God, not only in the battle itself, but in the events which led up to it; and that if it had not been for this intervention, the battle would have been joined in conditions which, humanly speaking, would have rendered victory impossible.”

A Routine of Prayer

As the war drug on, the archbishop of Canterbury wanted to hold one day of prayer a year. Churchill disagreed—he wanted them held twice a year. He also preferred the older term, “day of humiliation.”

“It would be a good thing to humble ourselves before the Almighty and to prepare ourselves to meet [the sacrifices of war] and possibly Him!” he said. Churchill rarely spoke publicly about these days of prayer. The king was officially the head of the Church of England, and tradition dictated that he lead the nation in such things. But privately Churchill was one of its greatest supporters.

The next “day of humiliation” came on March 23, 1941. Cosmo Lang, the archbishop of Canterbury, said he thought it was fitting that the king “should once again call [the nation] to renew the acknowledgement of its need of God and dependence on Him,” to pray for “His forgiveness of all that has been amiss in our national life, for strength and guidance in the stern and testing days which may be coming, and if it be His will, for good success.” He also said that “we should offer thanksgivings for mercies already received,” reminding the nation of “the wonderful way in which we have escaped the dangers which surrounded us last summer and autumn.”

The next day of prayer was on September 7, which “brought people again in unusual numbers to the churches and places of worship throughout the land,” according to the Times.

On December 7, America was bombed into the war. Just like Britain, one of its first acts was to schedule a day of a prayer—this time for January 1. It became a semi-official day of prayer in Britain too, as the two nations united to call for God’s aid in what was now a common fight. “We need His guidance that this people may be humble in spirit but strong in the conviction of the right; steadfast to endure sacrifices and brave to achieve a victory of liberty and peace,” said President Roosevelt in his proclamation.

Churchill was in the U.S. that day, where he attended George Washington’s local church. He sat in Washington’s pew for the service and sang “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Some sources say this was the first time Churchill heard the hymn. It deeply moved him—and he had the same hymn played at his funeral.

March 29, 1942, was Britain’s next official day of prayer, followed by another on September 3. Authorities feared these days of prayer were becoming routine. To make it stand out, they moved it from a Sunday, when many went to church anyway, to a weekday. Having the nation pause work was a major sacrifice, so the schedule was switched to hold them only once a year.

“Look back through history and find how the people of this land of ours have always committed their cause to Almighty God,” stated the British Pathé news announcer as the Royal Air Force lined up to beseech God’s help in 1942. “These are modern crusaders who are not ashamed to pray.”

In May 1943, at Churchill’s initiative, the nation held a day of thanksgiving, celebrating the defeat of the Axis powers in North Africa.

Sept. 3, 1943, the fourth anniversary of the start of the war, was another opportunity for the nation to unite in prayer. “A day of prayer should be a united symbol, as it were, of what has become an individual habit for every day,” wrote the Times. This secular newspaper reminded the nation of the Prophet Samuel’s example in setting up memorial to God’s divine intervention, with the legend “hitherto hath the Lord helped us.”

“Such a landmark, so inscribed, should be placed in the nation’s thought,” it wrote.

Deliverance on D-Day

As Allied leaders announced their forces were invading Normandy in June 1944, they spent the bulk of their messages calling the nation to prayer.

“At this historic moment surely not one of us is too busy, too young or too old to play a part in a nationwide, perchance a worldwide, vigil of prayer as the great crusade sets forth,” said King George. President Roosevelt led the nation in a prayer broadcast over the radio. “Many people have urged that I call the nation into a single day of special prayer,” he said. “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.”

In its lead editorial, the New York Times wrote: “We pray for the boys we know and for millions of unknown boys who are equally a part of us. … We pray for our country. … The cause prays for itself, for it is the cause of the God who created man free and equal.”

American historian Stephen E. Ambrose wrote in his book D-Day: “The impulse to pray was overwhelming. Many people got their first word of the invasion as they began their daily routines; after they recovered their breath, they said a silent prayer. Others heard the news broadcast on loudspeakers during their night shifts on assembly lines around the country. Men and women paused over their machines, prayed, and returned to work with renewed dedication. Across the United States and Canada, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the Arctic to the Gulf Coast, the church bells rang. Not in triumph or celebration but as a solemn reminder of national unity and a call to formal prayer. Special services were held in every church and synagogue in the land. Pews were jammed with worshipers.”

“We shall require all the help that God can give,” wrote Adm. Sir Bertram Ramsay, commander of all the naval forces involved in D-Day. “I cannot believe that this will not be forthcoming.”

The result of all this prayer was the largest and most successful amphibious landing in history. The Allies didn’t get exactly the weather they wanted, but it was exactly what they needed. It was rough enough to convince the Nazis no invasion was coming and for their ships and commanders to stay away, but calm enough to sail.

“If there were nothing else in my life to prove the existence of an almighty and merciful God, the events of the next 24 hours did it,” said Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.

“Such a historic march of events can seldom have taken place in such a short space of time,” wrote Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. “Let us say to each other, This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.”

Lt. Gen. Sir Frederick Morgan was a key planner for the landing. After the war he detailed the many miracles the Allies experienced for the Telegraph in an article titled “The Miracle of D-Day.”

“The history of our other theaters of war will inevitably tell of many similar happenings, but I doubt if any will be such as to compare with the miracle of D-Day in 1944,” he wrote.

‘Every Man Must Pray’

It wasn’t just national days of prayer. Communities exiled from their homes by Nazi occupation held their own days of prayer. Army commanders told their soldiers to pray.

Probably the most famous example was Gen. George Patton at the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. Frustrated that the weather would not let him advance, he summoned James O’Neill, chief chaplain of the 3rd Army, and demanded a prayer for good weather.

“May I say, general, that it usually isn’t a customary thing among men of my profession to pray for clear weather to kill fellow men?” replied O’Neill.

“Chaplain, are you trying to teach me theology or are you the chaplain of the 3rd Army?” said Patton. “I want a prayer.” The prayer O’Neill came up with is now famous:

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.

O’Neill expected Patton to send it out to the Army’s chaplains. Instead the general asked for a quarter of a million copies. Seeing his chaplain’s surprise at the prayer going out to the entire Army, Patton proceeded to instruct the priest on the importance of prayer.

“I wish you would put out a training letter on this subject of prayer to all the chaplains; write about nothing else, just the importance of prayer,” he said. “Let me see it before you send it. We’ve got to get not only the chaplains but every man in the 3rd Army to pray. We must ask God to stop these rains. These rains are that margin that hold defeat or victory.”

Patton even connected prayer to the will of the soldier to fight:

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 prayer was sent out, the weather changed, and Patton advanced. “That O’Neill sure did some potent praying,” Patton said afterward. “Get him up here, I want to pin a medal on him.” He was the only man to be decorated for writing a prayer.

‘The Sacrifices of Thanksgiving’

As the nation held its final day of wartime prayer in September 1944, the focus shifted to thanksgiving. “Not once, not twice, the Allied cause has been saved ‘by a miracle’; the phrase is no figure of speech but an exact statement of truth,” wrote the Times in an article marked simply “from a correspondent.” “An operative factor was at work, for which those with an inner knowledge of the situation were unable, from a human standpoint, to account.”

He acknowledged the heroism, courage, endurance and wisdom of the men and women who had contributed to this victory, and he noted that “they are not the products of evolution or civilized environment. They are spiritual gifts: From God alone they come and to Him thanksgiving for their bestowal is due.”

The Times also warned its readers against the temptation to compromise with evil and settle for anything less than the total defeat of the Nazis. “The true spirit of thanksgiving will purify the mind from those wrong conceptions of peace which are a real and perhaps an increasing danger at this time—conceptions wrong because they are self-centered, not God-centered,” he wrote. “All too easily peace may be desired solely as a means of restoring personal comfort and business and normal ways of life.” Instead, gratitude for the deliverance given meant further sacrifice to defeat evil and see God’s will done.

The Times continued this theme of sacrifice as it covered the days of thanksgiving proclaimed after V-E Day and V-J Day.

It noted that response to the wartime days of prayer was “impressively full.”

“It should be no less full tomorrow” on this day of thanksgiving.

The Times—not a guest columnist or bishop writing in, but the newspaper editorializing—went on to offer the nation some profound spiritual instruction: “[T]hanksgiving must be of the right kind, which is widely different from a mere outburst of emotional gratitude, easily made and quickly forgotten. One of the psalmists declared in a striking phrase that he will ‘offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving.’ He knew that worthy thanksgiving involves sacrifice and effort. It implies a consecration of self, a surrender of the will, in order that God’s purposes may be achieved.”

On the final day of thanksgiving, held after Japan was defeated, the Times again reminded the nation that “the use made of tomorrow’s services will be lamentably imperfect unless thanksgiving for the happy restoration of peace is accompanied by a clear perception of the duties which peace imposes.” It said that the war “was won by the cooperation of divine power and human effort”—and that peace must mean the same. “Religion must be its basis, spiritual comradeship the source of its unity, effort and self-sacrifice must be given by every part of the community. … Familiar at the moment though this thought is, too easily it may be forgotten as time goes on.”

Sadly it has been forgotten. Historians have generally written all of this—God, the miracles, the days of prayer—out of history.

‘More Dangerous Than Any Other Problem’

“The world faces many serious problems today,” wrote Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry in 2020. “We have a deadly virus, and even worse, responses from government that are driving nations into terrifying debt and social breakdown. We have serious political division, racial conflict, international conflict, increasing military and arms spending, rapidly advancing weapons development. We face the possibility of human annihilation!

“The fact is, only God can save us from our problems! Yet we are leaving God out of our history and out of our lives! This is more dangerous than any other problem I have described!”

There are critical lessons from this history: the power of prayer, as well as the necessity to submit to God’s will. Britain also held national days of prayer at the start of the World Disarmament Conference in 1932 and as Neville Chamberlain negotiated with Hitler in September 1938. The latter ended with the shameful surrender at Munich. God did not bless that deal with the devil. Prayer was not enough. Perhaps that history is why Churchill preferred the term “day of humiliation”—the term gets closer to the attitude of repentance necessary to break through to God.

God says He is wrathful against those who suppress this truth (Romans 1:18; Revised Standard Version). His power and miracles were so clear that they were regularly acknowledged by generals, politicians and newspapers (verse 20).

Prayer gets results. Too few today, though, even know how to pray effectively. The Bible gives abundant instruction. What should we pray for? Should prayer be memorized or repeated? Should it be recited? Does it matter if it is out loud or silent? What attitude is required? The Bible has the answers to these questions and many more. Our free book How to Pray is a basic, simple, practical guide to what the Bible says about prayer. Put it into practice in your life, and expect miracles.