CS Lewis: In His Majesty’s Secret Service

The Wartime record of CS Lewis during the first World War has been well documented in his letters and biographies, and most fans of his work know of his wartime broadcasts that in time became the book Mere Christianity. However, a recently uncovered recording sheds light on a still classified part of his life: his work with the government organization known as MI6 during World War II.

No, he didn’t go on any dangerous missions to tangle with the likes of Ernst Blofeld or Auric Goldfinger, but Lewis’ service to his country was something even more important. Harry Lee Poe at Christianity Today sheds some light on this through a recently discovered audio recording.

Below is an excerpt from the article:

“However Lewis came to the attention of MI6, it needed Lewis in the wake of the German invasion of Norway and Denmark on April 9, 1940. Though the British sent troops to Norway to counter the German invasion, it was too late to intervene in Denmark, whose subjugation was accomplished in only one day. One month later on May 10, 1940, German forces invaded the Netherlands, Belgium, and France, and by June 22 the French government had capitulated, leaving Britain to fight on alone.

On that same morning in May, however, the British did the next best thing they could do to help Denmark and the rest of Europe: They launched a surprise invasion of Iceland, which was part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Iceland’s strategic significance in the North Atlantic had been known since the Viking voyages a thousand years earlier. Iceland sits along the arc of islands that include Britain, Ireland, Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland. Each island became a staging ground for pushing farther westward. In the Battle of the Atlantic, Iceland could have provided Germany with a strategic naval and air base. Instead, thanks to the British invasion, Iceland provided the ideal base for seaplanes to search for the German naval vessels that prowled the Atlantic sinking the merchant fleet with its crucial supplies.

Though British control of Iceland was critical, Britain could not afford to deploy its troops to hold the island when greater battles loomed elsewhere, beginning with the struggle for North Africa. Holding Iceland depended upon the goodwill of the people of Iceland who never had asked to be invaded by the British. If Britain retained Icelandic goodwill, then Churchill could occupy the island with reserve troops rather than his best fighting forces.

This was the strategic situation in which C. S. Lewis was recruited. And his mission was simple: To help win the hearts of the Icelandic people.”

Now, your mission dear readers, should you choose to accept it or not is simple, read the rest of this article on-line at Christianity Today.