“CHURCHES, art galleries, museums, cinemas, the homes of the poor – all these were hit but each city ‘carries on’ today and the Germans would be bitterly disappointed if they could walk among the people they tried to terrorise,” reported the Advertiser following air raids on Birmingham, Southampton and Bristol.

Birmingham city centre was paralysed when an arcade of shops was wrecked and debris prevented others from opening while in Southampton six firemen were killed during a night of bombing.

Closer to home, Bristol weathered a severe raid during which the main hall of the university, a school, shops, art gallery, several churches and cinemas suffered extensive damage.

An Air Ministry and Ministry of Home Security communiqué issued at 7.30am on Wednesday, November 27 played down the raids.

“Attacks on Britain between dusk and midnight resolved themselves into a confused series of minor incidents.” it said.

“A town in the west of England received about 100 incendiary bombs, which mostly burned themselves out and damage was negligible,” reported the Advertiser.

A former Swindon man, Walter Leslie Marsh, was killed when his home at 17 Alexandra Road was bombed during a raid on Southampton on November 17.

He died the same day at the Borough Hospital.

Walter Marsh was the youngest son of the late Mr and Mrs C.R. Marsh of Victoria Road, Swindon.

A former King William Street School pupil, Mr Marsh had served an apprenticeship with High Street furnisher JC Gilbert before leaving Swindon in 1926.

His wife and two children were also injured during the raid.