Williams Ellis

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ESCAPE FROM FRAMES

" The 1937 Coronation "
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" British Navy Drive Off Nazi Bombers ", " Epics of the War "
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Epics of the War series
As we understand it, some of the puzzles of this series were issued as single puzzles and some as sets of four puzzles. At least some of these four-puzzle sets were in the form of "puzzle books".
Keith reports, "I have at least one "Epics of the War" Jigsaw Book, Vol. 1. The 4 puzzle titles in this are:-
1. The Miracle of Dunkirk
2. The Glorious Attack at Taranto.
3. RAF Fighters Master the Luftwaffe.
4. The Capture of Sidi Barrani.

These books were made in early wartime and are invariably very delicate. The size was 11 ¼" x 14 ¾". They were described on the cover as "4 Original Stories illustrated by 4 Large Puzzles".

I also have a single 200-piece puzzle, " Commandos attack on Norway ", size 14" x 10". Another single title is " British Torpedo Boats in Action ". I think we can say early 1940's."

[from Jim McW]We also have the following in our database:

BEF [British Expeditionary Force?] Moves Up to the Front
British Navy Drive Off Nazi Bombers

from "MS"--3 October 2007:
Hello Jim & Keith,
Welcom (William Ellis & Co) did three puzzle books (at least),

1. [One puzzle book] with 4 puzzles:
Miracle of Dunkirk
RAF fighters master the Luftwaffe
Glorious attach at Taranto
Capture of Sidi Barrani [as Keith has listed above]

2. [one puzzle book] with the first two of the above four puzzles

3. [one puzzle book] with the second two.

Next point, Epics of the War series. I know of 14 titles.:

1 First attack on a British convoy ends in German disaster
2. RAF planes beat off German fighters
3. British Navy drives off Nazi bombers
4. British Expeditionary Force moves up to the Front
5. Gallant fight of the "Rawalpindi"
6. The "Altmark"- British Navy to the rescue
7. First German submarine to be sunk from the air
8. British warships trap the "Graf Spee"
9. Commando attack on Norway
10. RAF offensive over Germany
11. The Atlantic Charter
12. British torpedo boats in action
13. German tank unit routed in Russian campaign
14. The Commandos play their part in the great Allied victory in North Africa
All are "over 200 pieces".

Next point, 'Britain Defends' and 'Britain Attacks' were separate series, not part of 'Epics of the War'. The 'Britain Attacks' box contains 4 puzzles, each about 140 pieces.:
Bombing German raiders at Kiel

Launching a depth charge
Destroying German supply column in the near East
British trawlers engage a Hun submarine

I do not have the titles of the 'Britain Defends' box.

Welcom also made the "Wonders of the World" series in the 1930's, but I do not have a complete listing of those.
Welcom also made the "Discoveries" series of 4 titles, made in late 1930's or early 1940.
The theory of gravitation
Discovery of steam locomotion
Discovery of flight
Captain Cook's discoveries.

Welcom had the very helpful practise of listing on each box other puzzles in the series, hence it has been possible to build up these lists.

I hope this is helpful.
Best wishes
"MS"
***************
from Jim McW--7 October 2007:
It is very helpful, indeed!

I may add that Penny sent some information which suggests the need for further study of the EPICS OF THE WAR series. We were able to view pictures of two EPICS boxes. They appear to have been packaged in boxes originally printed for the DISCOVERIES OF MANKIND series and had adhesive stickers placed over the original text on the box, identifying them as EPICS OF THE WAR. The titles of these two puzzles are ' The "Altmark"- British Navy to the rescue ' and ' First German submarine to be sunk from the air ".

Can anyone add to this information?

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