Give Us This Day

As a strategic port and a centre where Spitfires were being built Southampton suffered badly from Luftwaffe air raids during World War Two. More than 2,300 bombs and 30,000 incendiary devices rained on the city. Nearly 45,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed. Nazi publicity declared that the city had been left a smoking ruin and the fire glow over the wreckage could be seen as far away as Cherbourg.
Apart from the night bombing German aircraft strafed the streets with machine gun fire. The war over Southampton left 630 civilians dead, 898 seriously injured and nearly a thousand with slight wounds.
One 500lb bomb killed 14 children. It landed on the Arts Block in the Civic Centre, tore through the roof and exploded inside the basement where children were sheltering.
As in London and Coventry there were heroes and tragedy, fear and hope.  Jennie Sherborne’s novel unfolds against this dramatic background when Britain turned defeat into victory.