Angels In War (The First World War) Part 3

A senior German officer who was taken prisoner immediately afterwards gives this extraordinary explanation (taken from the account of the Staff Captain, 1st Corps Intelligence, 1st British Army Headquarters, 1916-18, who was present and himself took the statement):

The order had been given to advance in mass formation, and our troops were marching behind us singing their way to victory when Fritz, my lieutenant here, said, 'Herr Kapitan, just look at that open ground behind Bethune. There is a brigade of cavalry coming up through the smoke drifting across it! They must be mad, these Englishmen, to advance against such a force as ours in the open! I suppose they must be cavalry of one of their Colonial Forces, for look! They're all in white uniform and are mounted on white horses!'

'Strange,' I said. 'I've never heard of English having any white cavalry whether Colonial or not. Anyway, they've all been fighting on foot for several years past and in khaki, not white.'

'Well, they're plain enough,' he replied. 'But look! Our guns have got them in there range now; they'll be blown to pieces in no time.'

We actually saw the shells bursting among the horses and their riders which still came forward at a quiet walk trot, in parade-ground formation, each man and horse in his exact place. Shortly afterwards our machine guns opened a heavy fire, raking the advancing cavalry with a hail of lead; but on they still came and not a single man or horse fell. Steadily they advanced, clear in the shining sunlight, and a few paces in front of them rode their leader, a fine figure of a man, whose hair, like spun gold, shone in an aura around his head. By his side was a great sword, but his hands lay quietly holding the reins, as his huge white charger bore him proudly forward.

In spite of heavy shelling and concentrated machine-gun fire the white cavalry advanced, remorselessly as fate, like the incoming tide on a sandy beach. Then a great fear fell over me. I turned to flee; yes I, an officer of the Prussian Guard, fled panic stricken, and around me were hundreds of terrified men, whimpering like children, throwing away their weapons and accoutrements in order not to have their movements impeded ... all running. Their one desire was to get away from that advancing white cavalry; but above all from their awe-inspiring leader whose hair shone like a golden aureole.

That is all I have to tell you. We are beaten. The German Army is broken. There may be fighting, but we have lost the war; we are beaten by the white cavalry ... I cannot understand ... I cannot understand.

During the days that followed, many German prisoners were examined and their accounts tallied in substance with the one given here.

Letter From Mrs Peggy Main Of Ascot, Berkshire

The 'White Cavalry of Bethune' was recounted by Captain Hayward. He was Intelligence Officer to Staff Headquarters on the Western Front. He was the officer who interviewed the German soldiers who were retreating for fear of what they had seen - white cavalry with a leader who had a halo round his head and was mounted upon a huge white charger. Captain Hayward later examined a number of German prisoners, all who had a strained look on their faces, and all told basically the same story. Strangely, Captain Hayward himself had seen nothing on that empty open ground!

This story was confirmed when my husband and I were attending a fellowship conference. An elderly lady there said her brother had been present when the Germans in question had been brought in. They were absolutely terrified by what they had seen.

Mrs Peggy Main added, 'I have heard that this vision followed a national day of prayer in Britain.' It was the only one that Britain had in the First World War. The churches were holding prayer meetings throughout the war, but it was only when they urged the government to have a National Day of Prayer that defeat was turned into victory. Germany had no national days of prayer in either war. A further report tells me that the USA also joined in that national day of prayer, and that it had been called jointly by Parliament and US Congress.

The Vision As Seen From The British Area

Captain Cecil W. Hayward tells us how the Bethune angelic intervention appeared to the British ranks. He says that Germany's furious attack was intended to win victory before the American forces arrived later in July, 1918. The noise of the gun barrage was so terrific that even three miles away Captain Hayward felt the ground heave under his feet.