On the eve of D-Day, June 6, 1944, Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Dwight Eisenhower issued his “Order of the Day” to the troops participating in Operation Overlord, the beginning of the liberation of western Europe from Nazi rule.
In that order 80 years ago, the general exhorted all those serving under his command to pray for the success of the operation, which was to be the largest amphibious invasion ever undertaken in the history of warfare.
The battle — which occurred on a 50-mile stretch of shoreline in Normandy, France — came nearly five years after German dictator Adolf Hitler plunged the world into war when his Nazi forces invaded and occupied much of Europe.
By the summer of 1940, Great Britain, under the leadership of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, remained the lone outpost of freedom resisting the German war machine.
In his “Finest Hour” speech, given shortly after taking office, Churchill said, “Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization.”
“If we can stand up to [Hitler], all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands,” he said. “But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.”
Britain stood firm in the air battle over Britain in 1940, thwarting Hitler’s attempt to occupy the island nation, so the German leader turned his forces back toward the east and invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941.
Then Germany’s ally Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and four days later Hitler declared war on the United States.
By June 1944, the Allies — the U.S., Britain, and Canada — stood poised to begin the liberation of western Europe.
Should more American leaders pray openly?
The Allies had amassed 5,000 ships, 20,000 vehicles (including more than 1,000 tanks), more than 175,000 soldiers, and 10,000-plus aircraft for Operation Overlord, primarily in and around the British isles.
The D-Day plan involved crossing the English Channel and making landings on five Normandy beach sites, as well as dropping paratroopers from the 101st and 82nd Airborne divisions behind enemy lines.
Map of the #Normandy invasion with allied forces: https://t.co/DVbhkikKUE #OperationOverload @Memory_Project pic.twitter.com/x1MIB4YjjP
— CanadianEncyclopedia (@CdnEncyclopedia) November 11, 2015
On the evening of June 5, Eisenhower, a former West Point football player and assistant coach, went to give a pep talk to some of the soldiers from the 101st Airborne before they loaded their planes bound for Normandy.
We commemorate #DDay80 and the tremendous sacrifices made by all WWII veterans in battle on and off the field. (General Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the order of the Day, 1944 | https://t.co/l9odbWB10l) pic.twitter.com/IkB1eUP5ME
— National Archives Foundation (@archivesfdn) June 4, 2024
Soon thereafter, the general returned to his headquarters and issued his D-Day Order of the Day.
“Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you,” Eisenhower wrote.
June 6, 1944 D-Day GEN Eisenhower, Class of 1915 issued Order of the Day: “You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hope and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.” pic.twitter.com/coi0DBiyA1
— West Point AOG (@WPAOG) June 6, 2018
“In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German War Machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world,” he continued.
Eisenhower said their task would not be easy because the Germans would “fight savagely,” but reminded his troops that the Nazi forces had suffered great defeats at the hands of the Allies, particularly dealt by the Soviet Union on the eastern front of the war, over the previous years.
Eisenhower also described how the air offensive against Hitler’s regime, conducted by the British, Americans and Canadians, over the previous years had “seriously reduced” the German capacity “to wage war on the ground.” The Allies enjoyed complete air supremacy by D-Day.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s speech to U.S. troops exactly 77 years ago today, before the Normandy Landings #DDay (Source: @USArmy) pic.twitter.com/ddk1OedHQM
— Logan Ratick (@Logan_Ratick) June 6, 2021
“The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory! I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle,” the general said.
“Good luck! And let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking,” Eisenhower concluded.
Following the successful landing on Normandy’s coast, President Franklin D. Roosevelt led the American people on the evening of June 6 in what has been described as the largest mass prayer in human history.
“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,” the president began, as an estimated 100 million people tuned in.
“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,” Roosevelt continued.
“Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.”
The Allies suffered approximately 10,500 killed, wounded or missing on D-Day, with the U.S. making up about 6,000 of that number.
The president closed his prayer invoking the words of Jesus Christ from the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done, Almighty God.”
Omaha Beach, Normandie – Normandy
D-Day – Jour-J – 06/06/1944Photo: US National Archives #DDay #Histoire #OmahaBeach #Normandie #WW2 #History #SGM #Normandy pic.twitter.com/PzMdEZFAF6
— Marc Laurenceau (@MarcLaurenceau) September 26, 2020
Eisenhower would go on to serve two terms as U.S. president during the 1950s.
In 1954, he signed legislation adding “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance.
Eisenhower also supported the American Legion’s “Back to God” program.
“As a former soldier, I am delighted that our veterans are sponsoring a movement to increase our awareness of God in our daily lives,” he said as part of a February 1954 television and radio broadcast for the Legion.
“In battle, they learned a great truth — that there are no atheists in the foxholes. They know that in time of test and trial, we instinctively turn to God for new courage and peace of mind,” the president added.
Eisenhower further contended, “Without God, there could be no American form of Government, nor an American way of life,” explaining, “If the State gives rights, it can — and inevitably will — take away those rights.”
“Each day we must ask that Almighty God will set and keep His protecting hand over us so that we may pass on to those who come after us the heritage of a free people, secure in their God-given rights and in full control of a Government dedicated to the preservation of those rights,” the former five-star general said.
Portions of this article first appeared in the book “We Hold These Truths” by Randall DeSoto, addressing how leaders have appealed to belief in God and in God-given rights throughout U.S. history.
