My recent visit to the American invasion beaches of Normandy was
unbelievably moving. I'd recently finished Stephen Ambrose's best-seller D-Day
to try and be ready for the experience. Despite almost 600 pages of minute by
minute detail about the invasion, I wasn't remotely prepared. Our guide was
simply fantastic and I can't imagine trying to do this without someone like him
(Eric Le Deux-Turnbull) to put it into
perspective (more on this another day).
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A haunting picture of SS-Panzergrenadiers Sepp Bund,
Klaus Schuh and Günther Hamel of Regiment 25 (12
SS-Panzerdivision “Hitlerjugend”) on June 12, 1944 in the orchard of the
Abbaye d'Ardenne near Caen, Normandy. They had just been awarded the Iron Cross
2nd Class for destruction of a British tank using only their MG42 on June
9, 1944. Only Hamel survived the War. (Sources: i
& ii).
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While in France, I was also doing some reading the closing chapters of
Alma in anticipation of my Sunday School lesson on Helaman's Army. This morning
at 4:00 AM (still on French time . . . ) I was struck with the contrasts
between two stripling armies.
In June 1943, Adolf Hitler exulted with the formation of the 12th
SS-Panzer Division Hilterjugende. By the fall of 1943, training
of 16,000 recruits from the Hitler Youth movement was
complete. Many of the recruits were so young that they were issued sweets
rather than tobacco and alcohol as part of their regular rations. These
striplings had grown up in the propaganda programs of Nazi Germany and were
fanatically committed to the cause. From their mother's knees they were taught
to trust their Fuhrer, and were prepared to die for the Fatherland. The
division had been equipped with the finest weaponry that Nazi Germany had to
offer and had been extensively trained with innovative techniques. The Hitlerjugende
was led by officers and NCO's that had proven themselves on the eastern front; it enjoyed a camaraderie and morale that was unusually
strong. Hitler moved 12th SS-Panzer Division Hilterjugende to
Caen, Normandy in March 1944 to help defend the European continent from the
coming Allied Invasion.
In June of 1944, the 12th SS-Panzer Division Hilterjugende played
a critical role in the Battle of Normandy. They faced the Canadians and
British after they landed on the beaches at Juno and Gold and then moved inland to take the rail and road hubs at Caen. Hitler's
stripling division offered up fanatical resistance and a fight to the death
mentality. They were without doubt the most effective German fighting
force in France. Unfortunately, their war crimes against unarmed British
and Canadian POWs is well-documented as well. Good soldiers are not always good people.
On the other hand was Helaman's army of two thousand and sixty young
men. Their Ammonite parents were willing to sacrifice their lives instead of
spilling the blood of their enemies; the sons made a seemingly polar opposite
covenant to take up arms and sacrifice their lives in the defense of their
country.
And they were all young men, and they were exceedingly valiant for
courage, and also for strength and activity; but behold, this was not all—they
were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted.
Alma 53:20
Now they had never fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did
think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives;
yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God
would deliver them. And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers,
saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it. Alma
56:47-48
And as the remainder of our army were about to give way before the
Lamanites, behold, those two thousand and sixty were firm and
undaunted. Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of
command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto
them; and I did remember the words which they said unto me that their mothers
had taught them. Alma 57:20-21
Both armies were very young and, on the surface, hardly intimidating as a
fighting force. Yet both armies were committed, firm and fearless; they
meted out death and destruction to their enemies with incredible effectiveness.
Both had been taught to trust their leader and to obey with exactness and
without hesitation.
The ultimate difference was who they chose to follow. The
stripling Hilterjugende followed Adolf Hitler, one of the most evil
men the world has ever known. They were committed to the principles of
Nazism, which called for the conquest of it's neighbors and the utter destruction
of Jew, Poles, Russians and others deemed racially inferior. By the end of July
1944, their ranks were decimated and numbered just over 2000. In contrast, the
stripling Ammonites selected Helaman, the prophet of God, to be their General.
They were committed to God and the principles of liberty for all men. They held
firm not for several weeks, but for many months and in a variety of trials and
hardships that included hard-fought battles, isolation and near starvation. Because of "their exceeding faith in what they were taught
to believe", not one soul was lost on the field of battle.
But behold, they have received many wounds; nevertheless they stand fast
in that liberty wherewith God has made them free; and they are strict to
remember the Lord their God from day to day; yea, they do observe to keep his
statues, and his judgments, and his commandments continually; and their faith
is strong in the prophecies concerning that which is to come. Alma
58:40
We like to feel assured that we are not so vulnerable to be led astray
as were the Germans under Hitler’s National Socialist German Worker’s Party.
But Hitler, like so many of the forces that threaten our souls, was a master of
misinformation, propaganda and praying on the weaknesses of others when they
were most vulnerable. Furthermore, he was content to make his gains by degrees. The only way we can be confident
in our ability to stand as firm as Helaman’s army is to be uncompromising in
our commitment to God and follow his commandments with exactness. This is the
stuff that ‘exceeding faith’ is made of, and the stuff that makes you
invincible to your foes, no matter the odds.
