During World War II, the human race came agonizingly close to the edge of the abyss. Through the courage, sacrifice and perseverance of men and women of a special generation, the war was changed from what it was surely set to be – a victory for the dark forces of the Nazis – into a triumph that stands today as one of the greatest achievements in the history of mankind. What were the factors that made this great victory possible? Was it the bravery of these men and women? Was it the leadership of great men as Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill?, or was there more to it? Were there other unknown forces at work that may have been more responsible for this victory than any other?  Forces that most do not know of, and that may have played the most important role in defeating evil and swinging the fortunes of fate onto the side of good.

What may these forces be? … First, let us understand how the war was won.

It was in late summer of 1998, that I visited Berlin for the first time. I remember it well, for in spite of the war having ended more than fifty years prior, the scars of war were still visible on the face of the city. There were destroyed buildings, bombed, that remain as they were in 1945, left as a reminder of the war. An old British gentleman, a survivor of the war, was our guide for a tour around Berlin. Having made Berlin his primary residence of retirement, he had made it his mission to educate tourists on the history of the war, and of Berlin. After a long day of sightseeing, he asked the group of tourists, of which I was one, what everyone thought was the most important battle of the World War II. I thought about it for a moment, and not knowing the history of the war well, I spurted out the first name of a battle that I could think of. It was El-Alamein. At the time, neither my, nor any of the other tourists’ answers satisfied our guide, for he was set that it was the battle of Britain.

For some reason, this tour, this man, and that question remained engraved in my mind for a very long time. I did not pursue more knowledge about the war then, and my understanding of it remained at that of a tourist for the longest time.

The desire to dig deeper did not come upon me until I discovered some other information that I encountered by chance while seeking spiritual enlightenment through the study of Saint’s lives. It happened as I was reading the story of the life of a great saint of Egypt, Saint Mena the Wonder Worker. This saint who was born in Egypt in the late 3rd century, loved Christ very deeply, and even though he was very wealthy and a Commander in the Roman army, he left all to live in the dessert in hermitage, dedicating himself to prayer and fasting. He was martyred during the rule of the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian, after having confessed his faith and love of God in front of the Emperor and defied their order to worship idols. The great Saint Mena was later buried in Maryut near Alexandria.

As I read through his life story an intriguing piece caught my attention. It described that during World War II, General Montgomery who was the commander of the Allied forces in Africa, had a dream. He dreamt that he saw a battle raging between the Allies and the Germans, and a man pointed his hands, and the more he made the movement, the more the German forces were defeated. He continued pointing his hand, until they were completely defeated. When Montgomery asked this man about his name, he replied ‘Mena’. This was several days before the decisive battle of Alamein, in which Montgomery triumphed over the Germans.

The battle of Alamein took place in the western dessert of Egypt, near an abandoned historical town named Maryut. Maryut is the place where St Mena the Wonder Worker was buried and it is where today stands a great Monastery built after his name, whose fame is spread across Christians all over  the world.

This was holy ground. The battle of Alamein did not take place in an unknown dessert location, it took place on ground that was blessed since the third century with the relics of a great Saint, where countless miracles were performed and where great Cathedrals were erected in his name.

In 1942, Patriarch Christopher II of the Greek Church in Egypt issued a declaration saying that “the military events of El-Alamein took place close to the burial site of St Mena and that they believe that his blessings contributed to the victory of the Allies and the crushing defeat of the Axis.”

Another story that was recorded in the book “The victorious in El-Alamein” by archimandrite Karalampus Visilopolo, mentioned that “Romel, the German leader of the axis forces proceeded towards Alexandria, until El-Alamein, where they camped. At midnight many of the pious people saw Saint Mena leading camels, as in his icon, to the German camp. It was difficult to describe the terror that struck the German soldiers, who were undefeated until this time. In that hour Hitler’s authority ended as the troops retreated”

Saint Mena was part of the battle of Alamein. His, was the force that tipped the scale of the battle, nay the war, in favour of good, giving victory to the allies and to General Montgomery.

It is a fact not to be lost that the battle of Alamein marked the first time in the Second World War that German troops were defeated in battle. Until then, they were considered invincible, and perhaps they were to mere humans, but not to great Saints. The battle of Alamein turned the tide of the war entirely in favour of the allies. It turned the war from one that must not be lost, into one that must be won. In Winston Churchill’s own words: “Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein we never had a defeat”.

History is full of conquests, empires and battles, and more often than not, it is the imperial force that holds Egypt – with its strategic location and access to the Suez Canal – that holds the world. The Roman Empire held Egypt and it ruled most of the inhabitants of the earth for centuries unopposed.  The Ottoman Empire held Egypt and its dynasty spread from Europe to Asia to Africa. Even the British held Egypt, and their empire, the sun never set upon. What would have happened if Hitler and the Nazis had gotten a hold on Egypt? . . .  It is a grace and a gift that this question, today, is only a hypothetical question, and it is precisely why the battle of El-Alamein was the decisive turning point of the war, the one that God’s chosen Saint, Saint Mena, interjected to stop the spread of darkness and planted the seed of light that would eventually bring about freedom to all of humanity.

What was the most decisive battle of World War II? It was the battle that changed the war from one that is being lost, to one that is being won;  it was the battle that put Montgomery, his men and the power of God and his saints, against Romel and Hitler’s forces of darkness; it was the battle that marked the end of the descent into the abyss and the start of the ascent to virtuous triumph; it was the only battle of the war that occurred on blessed ground, whose patron Saint granted victory to humanity: Saint Mena.