Stories of Faith and Courage from World War II

900 million copies of his Little Red Book were printed as required reading for every citizen of China. Concerning what is important in war, he wrote:

Weapons are an important factor in war, but not the decisive factor; it is people not things, that are decisive. The contest of strength is not only a contest of military and economic power, but also a contest of human power and morale. Military and economic power is necessarily wielded by the people.²¹⁴

Mao Tse-Tung focused on simple principles. He was a great revolutionary leader because he devoted himself to educating and motivating his followers. He knew that great achievements spring from great ideas, not things.

This principle is important in our own lives and, I believe, especially applicable to children. My wife, Lani, made sure our children were never “spoiled” with possessions. She concluded early in our marriage that our kids’ experiences and education were more important than things. As late-coming Christians, we came to realize the even greater importance of experiences contributing to spiritual growth. With children, as in all else, we need to keep our priorities straight. There is no possession that equals the importance of one life or the status of that life in the eternal future.

Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.

—Proverbs 4:7

^{A Navy F6F fighter preparing to launch. (National Archives)}

June THE FIGHT FOR SICILY AND ITALY

In January 1943 President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill met in Casablanca to discuss future strategy. By this time, American success on Guadalcanal was assured, and it was agreed that enough resources would be allocated to the Pacific to retain the initiative in that theater. In Europe, the Americans favored an early attack across the English Channel, but Churchill and his staff felt that the Allies were not yet ready. After a lengthy debate, it was decided that Sicily and Italy presented the best opportunity for continuing the offensive in 1943.

Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, began soon after midnight on July 10, 1943. The American 82^nd and British 1^st airborne divisions dropped into landing zones inland to block enemy movements toward the invasion beaches. Meanwhile a naval armada of more than two thousand ships and craft staging out of North African bases converged on Sicily from the south and east. Under cover of darkness the assault waves of Patton’s 7^th Army landed on the southern coast to seize the small ports of Gela, Licata, and Scoglitti. The British 8^th Army under Montgomery landed on the Pachino Peninsula and Gulf of Noto to the east to seize the port at Syracuse. In all, more than four hundred seventy thousand troops went ashore across a beachhead extending nearly one hundred miles.

The overriding Allied objective on Sicily was to converge all forces on Messina in a large pincer movement, to trap the Axis defenders before they could evacuate the island. Characteristically, Patton drove his troops forward with all possible speed, capturing Palermo on July 22. He then turned eastward along the north coast, leapfrogging enemy defenses in a rapid series of amphibious landings. Montgomery decided to bypass the stiff coastal defenses in his sector and moved his forces inland over the rugged terrain around Mount Etna. Falling back along interior lines, the German and Italian forces were able to buy enough time to evacuate more than one hundred thousand troops and their equipment to the mainland, to oppose the next advance.

The next Allied move came with the September 1943 invasion of Italy. Montgomery’s 8^th Army crossed the Straits of Messina on September 3 with no opposition. On September 9 the main attack came at Salerno by the newly formed 5^th Army under General Mark Clark. There, the Germans waited in strength behind well-prepared defensive positions. Bitter fighting to gain and hold the beachhead reached a climax on September 1314 when a massive German counterattack with six hundred tanks and mobile guns was beaten back. On October 1 Allied forces entered Naples, as the Germans fell back to a new defensive line along the Volturno River.

From this point the Italian campaign became a slugfest as the American and British forces tried to surmount a series of bitterly contested German defensive positions. By year-end, fighting was stalled on the Gustav Line, seventy miles south of Rome. Anchored on the mountaintop abbey of Monte Casino, this German position proved to be almost impregnable. In an effort to break the stalemate, the Allies launched a major amphibious attack on January 22, 1944, at Anzio, thirty miles from Rome. This effort also stalled against determined and effective German resistance. It was not until May that the Monte Casino position fell to Allied assaults, precipitating a German retreat to new positions in the northern part of Italy. On June 4, 1944, Mark Clark’s 5^th Army entered Rome unopposed, two days before the focus of the war would shift to the beaches of Normandy.

June 1 The Mosta Dome

The rotunda of the Church of St. Marija Assunta on the island of Malta has a fascinating history. The Mosta Dome, as it is called, is one of the largest freestanding rotundas in the world, spanning a diameter of 122 feet. It was the architectural masterpiece of Grognet de Vasse, completed in 1860. Built over a church on the same site, the older structure was used as scaffolding for the new. The high spherical vault was painted blue, with various heavenly scenes depicted to represent paradise.

In 1942 two German Luftwaffe pilots attacked the nearby Ta’ Qali airfield. One dropped a bomb that scored a direct hit on the Mosta Dome. That pilot was downed by anti-aircraft fire and died in the crash. The second pilot, Felix Sauer, witnessed the bombing of the Dome before he too was shot down. Sauer was a Catholic and lived thirty-three years with remorse, thinking he had helped destroy the unique and historic Malta church. When he returned as a tourist in 1975 he found what he first thought was a completely restored structure. Only then did he learn of the “Miracle.”

On April 9, 1942, church services were being held in the Church of St. Marija Assunta with three hundred people gathered under the great dome. An aircraft was heard overhead, and suddenly there was a crash in the ceiling as a falling bomb penetrated the dome. The bomb struck the floor of the church and skidded across it until finally coming to rest. It missed the entire congregation and failed to explode. This incident became famous in church lore as a great modern demonstration of God’s providential hand protecting his people and his church. Today a replica of the bomb can be seen there commemorating the Miracle of the Mosta Dome.²¹⁵

When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord… His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained.

—1 Samuel 5:34

June 2