Be The One In 10,000 Who Says “No.”
When World War 2 started, the German military had developed new tactics which the world had never seen. They absolutely steamrollered every country in their path. When the war broke out the British Army was one of the smallest of any major power. Indeed, their Army was considerably smaller than some of the “small neutral” countries. As weak nation after weak nation fell to the Germans Britain had every confidence that the French, with what was considered the largest, most powerful army in Europe, would stop them cold. They did not. Not even close.
Britain and France had many of their troops in Belgium to help defend it. When the Germans invaded Belgium, to avoid the bulk of France’s line of fortress defenses, they cut off all of Britian’s forces and half of France’s from getting supplies from France. It was a route. France was defeated in a matter of days and the tiny (by comparison) British force was in full retreat, trying to escape the continent before they were utterly destroyed.
The governments of every Western European nation that Germans had invaded, including the monarchs, had fled to England for safety, lest they be captured and used as pawns by Hitler. All but one. Tiny Belgium had as their King Leopold III who staunchly refused his Cabinet’s insistence that he flee. Instead, he joined his troops on the frontlines taking on the German onslaught. 650,000 Belgian soldiers bravely fought a slow retreat against the 3.3 million German shock troops overrunning their nation. Germany was also employing the use of well over 2000 aircraft which had quickly annihilated the tiny Belgian air force and then began pummeling the defenseless ground forces.
It eventually became clear that Belgium could no longer hold out against the Germans without catastrophic losses. So, after informing the allies that he could no longer hold and must surrender, some 12 hours later King Leopold III did just that. When captured he insisted that he be placed in a POW camp with his men but the Germans secluded him in his palace under guard.
France had been flanked, beaten, and sent in disorganized retreat. England, without notice to its allies, fled to Dunkirk fully intending on escape from the disaster. Belgium had held out for days, giving the French and English cover as they fled.
Back in France and England the governments needed someone to blame for their utter failure to even slow down the Germans. So, they conspired together and blamed Leopold III of Belgium. Ironically, they accused him of exactly what they themselves had done- flee and surrender without informing their allies. Even Winston Churchill, after some initial reluctance, joined in the lies of heaping blame on Leopold and the Belgians. They made a scapegoat of a man who could not speak up for himself. They even accused him of conspiring with the Germans.
The press, picking up the official line though many of them knew it to be false, excoriated Leopold as a traitor and coward. The accusations were so bad that Belgian civilians who had fled to England and France were thrown out of hotels and restaurants. Some were beaten in the street. So thorough was the mantra of the lie that to this day many historians repeat it though it has been debunked.
One man, Sir Roger Keyes refused to go along with the lie. Despite official orders he defied them and publicly declared the truth. After the war he even sued the London Times for defamation and in the lawsuit brought forward and put on record the previously secret documents which showed the truth. For his moral stand he was publicly shunned and was accused of being in league with Leopold.
It is said that in war, truth is the first casualty. I think the truth gets murdered pretty quickly even in peace. Yet we, as followers of Christ are called to stand up for the truth. We are called to stand against the lies, even if they are convenient, effective, and dangerous to oppose. Nearly everyone thought that it would be worse for the allies to take the blame they deserved for their failures and that in order to have “the right people” stay in power to oppose Germany it was necessary to have a scapegoat. When everyone is screaming the lies and demanding the heads of those who oppose them, be that one person in the crowd who refuses to go along with what you know to be false. Be that one person in 10,000 who stands with the truth regardless of the cost.