At last - The set is COMPLETE !!

**Steve T** · 08-31-2013, 11:08 AM

Hi all

Before I started collecting WW2 relics over 15 years ago now, I used to just collect WW2 books. I could regularly be found in charity shops, library sales and church fetes, hunting through the stacks of books for interesting WW2 volumes. I had been aware of one particular set of books almost from the start, but they were always so expensive it put me off collecting them.

Three years ago I was in Oakham, working in a very quiet pharmacy. During a break for dinner, I wondered off to buy a sandwich and happened to pass a charity shop. I strolled in and was amazed to find six volumes of the Time Life WW2 series there on the shelf. 50p each !!!! Bargain !! I bought them, asked them to check if they had any more, (at which point two more appeared from the stock room), and headed back to the pharmacy.

When I got home I had a look to see how many where in the set, expecting there to be twenty, maybe 25 at a push. I was astonished to find there were 39 volumes in the set !

The eight volumes I had joined the multitude of other WW2 books on one of my bookshelves and it was there and then I decided to attempt to collect the hole set. I initially avoided buying them online as, at between five and ten pounds each, the cost was prohibitive. So, I resolved to find them at my normal haunts.

At the beginning of the year, I had 22 of the set but had not found one in many months. Checking online, I found the prices had dropped so I began to collect the missing volumes.

Today, the last one I needed, Prelude to War, arrived.

YES ! THE WHOLE SET !

It took me three years but it is now complete. An excellent source of reference material and very well written, I am very pleased to now be the owner of a complete set.

The books themselves..................(close up rotated to make it easier to read the titles).....

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Here is the list of volumes.....

Prelude to war by Robert T. Elson*
Blitzkrieg by Robert Wernick *
Battle of Britain by Leonard Mosley
The rising sun by Arthur Zich
Russia besieged by Nicholas Bethell
The war in the desert by Richard Collier
The battle of the Atlantic by Barrie Pitt
The home front: USA by Ronald H. Bailey
China, Burma, India by Don Moser
Island fighting (World War II) by Rafael Steinberg
The Italian campaign by Robert Wallace
Partisans and guerillas by Ronald H. Bailey
The Second Front (World War II) by Douglas Botting
Liberation (World War II) by Martin Blumenson
Return to the Philippines by Rafael Steinberg
The air war in Europe by Ronald H. Bailey
The Resistance (World War II) by Russell Miller
Battle of the Bulge (World War II) by William K. Goolrick
The Road to Tokyo (World War II, Vol 19) by Keith Wheeler
Red Army resurgent by John Shaw
The Nazis by Robert Edwin Herzstein
Across the Rhine (World War II) by Franklin M Davis
War Under the Pacific by Keith Wheeler
War in the Outposts (World War II Series) by Simon Rigge
The Soviet Juggernaut (World War II Series) by Earl Frederick Ziemke
Japan at War (World War II Series) by Time-Life Books
The Mediterranean (World War II) by A. B. C. Whipple
Battles for Scandinavia (World War II #28) by John R. Elting
The Secret War (World War II) by Francis Russell
Prisoners of war (World War II) by Ronald H. Bailey
The commandos by Russell Miller
The Home Front : Germany (World War II Series) by Charles Whiting
The Neutrals (World War II) by Denis J. Fodor
Bombers over Japan (World War II) by Keith Wheeler
Italy at War (World War II) by Henry Hitch Adams
Victory in Europe (World War II) by Gerald Simons
The fall of Japan (World War II) by Keith Wheeler
The aftermath: Europe (World War II) by Douglas Botting
The Aftermath: Asia (World War II) by Time-Life Books

Well chuffed

**humble collector** · 08-31-2013, 11:30 AM

VERY GOOD! I saved an entire collection of these books from being thrown out 4 years ago, and gave them to my nephew.

**Woolgar** · 08-31-2013, 11:32 AM

Well done Steve! Its nice when you get a complete set!

I was chuffed to complete this publication in the early 80's, I often refer to it

Nick

**Larry C** · 08-31-2013, 12:17 PM

Time Life books..."Third Reich Series" did it for me and I still have it as of today.
below is the Link to the Youtube commericial which from many years ago that got me to collect these books.

Time-Life commercials for Third Reich book series - YouTube

First book of the set below

**4md** · 08-31-2013, 12:21 PM

Very well done getting 22 without going on line, looks like a good reference set

regards Paul

**relicz** · 08-31-2013, 12:47 PM

It is good to have the full set. I was given a full set by my niece as a birthday present, she found them locally.

As everything has gone digital and people down size, these pop up from time to time - typically less than complete.

**DougB** · 08-31-2013, 01:09 PM

Very cool. I had a complete set at one time as well, now long gone.

**Wagriff** · 08-31-2013, 04:15 PM

I did too...as I recall, I think they got tossed out during one of my several moves....I had subscribed to them when they originally came out, and was also horrified to find out just how many were in the series, but once you start, you can't stop until they end. That was always one of Time Life's little tricks-get you interested in a set and then run it for 30 or 40 volumes...lol

**Glenn66** · 08-31-2013, 04:31 PM

I still have back at my Mother's house in Australia the full set of 18 volumes of Col Trevor Dupuy's 'Military History of World War 2'. As a kid I used to read those books over and over again. As I recall, many of the photos I've never seen anywhere else. I guess they were what got me interested in the military history of the era. These volumes were released in the early-mid 1960s so I have my dad to thank for buying them in the first place.