Global 1940 2nd Edition Map Analysis

[CWO Marc]

SECTION 7B:
CHINA BLOCK: Selective Notes (part 1)

China, the only nation on the G40/2 map which starts the game with its homeland territory under partial occupation by an enemy power, is depicted using map conventions which give a misleading impression of the Chinese territories that were controlled by Japan in June 1940.

Like many of the world’s land and sea areas, China does not have the same size and shape on the G40/2 map as it does in reality.  The country is only about half as wide on the game map as it ought to be relative to its height, with most of the compression taking place in China’s western half.  Because of these size and shape distortions, the orange borders which show the provinces already occupied by Japan at the June 1940 starting date of the game approximate only vaguely the actual Japanese lines of control which existed at that moment of WWII.  The western salients of the Japanese lines appear much too shallow, the curved gap between them appears much too wide, and the names of the provinces inside and outside these orange borders do not reflect with complete accuracy the areas which Japan actually controlled.  For example Anhwe (also known as Anhwei and Anhui) is shown on the game map as being held by China, whereas most of it was actually occupied by Japan.

A further misrepresentation is the fact that the G40/2 map depicts all the Chinese coastal provinces (except Kwangtung) as being fully under Japanese control.  In reality, Japan comprehensively occupied China’s coastal provinces only as far south as Chekiang (which is not depicted separately on the game map, the closest map equivalent being Kiangsu).  South of Chekiang, Japan only took control of the Chinese coast’s port cities and of their surrounding areas, with the aim of cutting off China from supply by sea without having to occupy the entire coastline.

The G40/2 map labels 18 territories with Chinese roundels.  The Global 1940 OOB rules state that all these territories are considered Chinese for purposes of original ownership, even if they start the game under Japanese occupation (as denoted by the map’s orange borders).  The Chinese island of Hainan, however, violates this convention: it bears a Japanese roundel, despite the fact that it was a Chinese territory and that it was not occupied by Japan until February 1939.  This inconsistency is probably intended to justify the rule restriction which prevents Chinese units from being loaded onto naval transports because, in principle, Chinese forces are allowed to enter any territory marked with a Chinese roundel.

It should be noted that the dot shown in Szechwan at the terminus of the Burma Road corresponds approximately to Chungking, the wartime capital of the Republic of China.

It should be noted that the game map territory of Shensi corresponds roughly to an area which, from the mid-1930s onward, was under the control of the Chinese Communist Party rather than under the control of the Republic of China.  Shaanxi Province was the location of the Chinese Communist Party’s northernmost political council in 1934, and was the destination of the Long March of 1934-1935.  It served as the CCP’s power base and training centre during the Second World War.  The city of Yan’an (Yenan in older sources), located in central Shaanxi, was from 1937 onward the seat of the communist government of what became known as the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border region.

[CWO Marc]

SECTION 7C:
CHINA BLOCK: Selective Notes (part 2)

HOMELAND TERRITORIES OF CHINA

• Jehol
  Jehol, a de jure province of the Republic of China, was invaded by Japan in January 1933 and annexed to the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo.

• Kiangsi
  The region depicted on the game map as Kiangsi corresponds roughly to an area of China whose port cities were occupied by Japan in 1938 and 1939.

• Kiangsu
  The region depicted on the game map as Kiangsu corresponds roughly to an area of China which was occupied by Japan in 1937 and 1938.

• Kwangsi
  The region depicted on the game map as Kwangsi corresponds roughly to an area of China whose port cities were occupied by Japan in 1938 and 1939.

• Manchuria
  Manchuria, an area over which China, Russia and Japan had exerted varying degrees of influence since the mid-19th century, was invaded by Japan in September 1931 and transformed into the puppet state of Manchukuo.

• Shantung
  The region depicted on the game map as Shantung corresponds roughly to an area of China which was occupied by Japan in 1937 and 1938.

• Shensi
  Power base of the Chinese Communist Party during WWII.

• Szechwan
  Location of Chungking, the wartime capital of the Republic of China.

[CWO Marc]

SECTION 8A:
NETHERLANDS BLOCK: G40/2 Map Inventory

TERRITORIES UNDER DUTCH JURISDICTION

[Dutch East Indies]

• Celebes

• Dutch New Guinea

• Java

• Sumatra

• Suriname

[CWO Marc]

SECTION 8B:
NETHERLANDS BLOCK: Selective Notes

Japan invaded the Dutch East Indies in December 1941 and occupied them completely by March 1942.  The Netherlands are not a player power under the Global 1940 OOB rules, but the Dutch colonial territories of the Dutch East Indies and Suriname carry a distinct roundel.  During the Japanese campaign to conquer the Dutch East Indies and Malaysia, the American, British, Dutch and Australian forces which tried to halt the Japanese advance in this region operated briefly under a joint command structure called ABDACOM.

[CWO Marc]

SECTION 9A:
GERMANY BLOCK: G40/2 Map Inventory

HOMELAND TERRITORIES OF GERMANY

• Germany
• Western Germany

TERRITORIES OCCUPIED BY GERMANY

• Denmark
• Greater Southern Germany
• Holland / Belgium
• Norway
• Poland

WARTIME ALLIES OF GERMANY

• Romania
• Slovakia / Hungary

[CWO Marc]

SECTION 9B:
GERMANY BLOCK: Selective Notes

TERRITORIES OCCUPIED BY GERMANY

• Denmark
  Denmark was invaded an occupied by Germany in April 1940.

• Greater Southern Germany
  The area labeled “Greater Southern Germany” on the game map corresponds essentially to Austria and Czechoslovakia.  Austria was annexed by Germany in March 1938.  The Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia was annexed by Germany in September 1938; most of the rest of the country (except for some territorial adjustments such as the creation of the Slovak Republic and the transfer of South Dobrudja to Bulgaria) was annexed by Germany in March 1939.

• Holland / Belgium
  Holland and Belgium, which are treated as a collective entity on the game map but are actually two separate countries, were invaded by Germany in May 1940 and occupied.

• Norway
  Norway was invaded by Germany in April 1940 and occupied.

• Poland
  The western part of Poland, which on the game map is identified simply as “Poland,” was invaded by Germany in September 1939 and occupied.

WARTIME ALLIES OF GERMANY

• Romania
  Romania joined the Axis in July 1940.  It eventually participated in the Axis war against the USSR which started in June 1941, to which it contributed 800,000 troops.

• Slovakia / Hungary
  The Slovak Republic was a German client state created in 1939 when Czechoslovakia was dismantled.  It participated in the German invasion of Poland and later contributed 20,000 men to the Axis war against USSR… Hungary signed the Tripartite Pact on in November 1940, and joined in the invasion of the Soviet Union the next year, contributing 500,000 troops to the Axis war on the Eastern Front.

[CWO Marc]

SECTION 10A:
JAPAN BLOCK: G40/2 Map Inventory

HOMELAND TERRITORY OF JAPAN

• Japan

TERRITORIES UNDER JAPANESE JURISDICTION

• Caroline Islands
• Iwo Jima
• Formosa
• Korea
• Marianas
• Marshall Islands
• Okinawa
• Paulau Island

TERRITORIES OCCUPIED BY JAPAN

• Hainan

WARTIME ALLIES OF JAPAN

• Siam (Thailand)

[CWO Marc]

SECTION 10B:
JAPAN BLOCK: Selective Notes

TERRITORIES OCCUPIED BY JAPAN

Disputable map situation:

• Hainan
  Hainan was actually a Chinese island when the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937.  It was invaded and occupied by Japan in February 1939.

WARTIME ALLIES OF JAPAN

Disputable map situation:

• Siam (Thailand)
  Thailand (called Siam on the G40/2 map) was an independent nation with an army of about 60,000 relatively well-equipped men.  In WWII, it was essentially a co-belligerent of Japan.  Thailand launched the Franco-Thai War in October 1940, from which it eventually gained a few provinces of French Indo-China under a Japanese-mediated settlement.  The Thai government allowed Japan to transit through Thailand when the Japanese moved against Burma in early December 1941; Thailand signed a formal military alliance with Japan later that month.  Thailand technically declared war on the US and the UK in January 1942.  Thailand was allowed by Japan to annex parts of the Shan States in Burma and parts of northern Malaya. The Japanese roundel on the G40/2 map is premature for the June 1940 starting date of the game, but arguably valid for a Japanese co-belligerent from October 1940 onward.

[CWO Marc]

SECTION 11A:
ITALY BLOCK: G40/2 Map Inventory

HOMELAND TERRITORIES OF ITALY

• Northern Italy
• Sardinia
• Sicily
• Southern Italy

TERRITORIES UNDER ITALIAN JURISDICTION

[Libya]

• Libya

• Tobruk

• Italian Somaliland

TERRITORIES OCCUPIED BY ITALY

• Albania
• Ethiopia

[CWO Marc]

SECTION 11B:
ITALY BLOCK: Selective Notes

TERRITORIES UNDER ITALIAN JURISDICTION

• Italian Somaliland
  Britain invaded Italian Somaliland in early 1941, conquered most of it by May, and completed its conquest in November of that year.

TERRITORIES OCCUPIED BY ITALY

• Albania
  Albania was invaded and annexed by Italy in April 1939.

• Ethiopia
  Ethiopia (also known as Abyssinia) was invaded by Italy in October 1935 and annexed in May 1936. Britain invaded Italian-ruled Ethiopia in early 1941 and completed its liberation in May of that year.

[CWO Marc]

SECTION 12A:
“PRO-ALLIED NEUTRAL” BLOCK: G40/2 Map Inventory

[Greece]

• Greece
• Crete

[Persia (Iran)]

• Eastern Persia

• Northwest Persia

• Persia

• Brazil

• Eire

• Yugoslavia

[CWO Marc]

SECTION 12B:
“PRO-ALLIED NEUTRAL” BLOCK: Selective Notes

[Greece]

• Greece
• Crete
  Greece was invaded by Italy in October 1940 but its armed forces succeeded in pushing the Italians back into Albania.  In support of its Italian allies, Germany invaded and occupied mainland Greece in April 1941, despite the intervention of British Commonwealth troops in support of Greece.  Crete was invaded by Germany in April 1941 and occupied.

[Persia (Iran)]

• Eastern Persia

• Northwest Persia

• Persia
  Iran was technically neutral at the beginning of the Second World War, but its oil facilities were British-owned and its ruler, Reza Shah Pahlavi, repeatedly refused British demands to expel German nationals from the country.  British and Soviet troops invaded Iran in August 1941 and forced Reza Shah Pahlavi to abdicate in favour of son.  Soon thereafter, Iran entered the war on the side of the Allies.  Its port of Bandar Abbas and a specially constructed railway provided a blue-water supply route to the Soviet Union, known as the Persian Corridor.

• Brazil
  Brazil declared war against Germany and Italy in August 1942.

• Eire
  Eire was the only Commonwealth Dominion to remain neutral in WWII; however, it allowed its citizens to work in Britain and to enlist in the British armed forces.

• Yugoslavia
  Yugoslavia was invaded by Germany in April 1941.  Parts of the country were occupied directly by Germany, Italy, Bulgaria and Hungary, while other parts were transformed into puppet or client states of Germany (in the case of Serbia) or of Italy (in the case of Montenegro) or of both (in the case of Croatia).

[CWO Marc]

SECTION 13A:
“PRO-AXIS NEUTRAL” BLOCK: G40/2 Map Inventory

• Bulgaria

• Finland

• Iraq

[CWO Marc]

SECTION 13B:
“PRO-AXIS NEUTRAL” BLOCK: Selective Notes

• Bulgaria
  Bulgaria signed the Tripartite Pact in March 1941.  It participated in the German invasion of the Balkans (its main contribution being transit rights for German units moving into Yugoslavia and Greece), annexing various territories from those two countries.  It did not declare war on the USSR, but its navy was involved in a number of skirmishes with the Soviet Black Sea Fleet.

• Finland
  Finland was a co-belligerent with Germany against the USSR in what was known as the Continuation War (in reference to the Winter War of 1939-1940), reappropriating Vyborg in the process.

• Iraq
  Iraq, a former British protectorate which gained complete independence in 1932, was important to Britain as a source of oil and because of its strategic position near India.  The British tried to maintain sympathetic governments in Iraq and had a military presence there in the form of an air base.  As the result of pro-German coup under Rashid Ali in April 1941, and with the subsequent arrival of German forces, Iraq briefly had the status of a co-belligerent with Germany and Italy against the Allies.  Indian troops invaded the country in late April, and by the end of May the Rashid Ali government had capitulated.  The British forced Iraq to declare war on the Axis the following year.

[CWO Marc]

SECTION 14A:
“STRICT NEUTRAL” BLOCK: G40/2 Map Inventory

[Mongolia]

• Buyant-Uhaa
• Central Mongolia
• Dzavhan
• Olgiy
• Tsagaan-Olom
• Ulaanbaatar

[Portugal]
[Homeland Territory of Portugal]

• Portugal
  [Territories Under Portuguese Jurisdiction]
• Angola
• Portuguese Guinea
• Mozambique

[Spain]
[Homeland Territory of Spain]

• Spain
  [Territories Under Spanish Jurisdiction]

• Rio de Oro

• Afghanistan

• Argentina

• Bolivia

• Chile

• Colombia

• Ecuador

• Liberia

• Paraguay

• Peru

• Saudi Arabia

• Sierra Leone

• Sweden

• Switzerland

• Turkey

• Uruguay

• Venezuela

[CWO Marc]

SECTION 14B:
“STRICT NEUTRAL” BLOCK: Selective Notes (part 1)

Disputable map situation:
[Mongolia]

• Buyant-Uhaa
• Central Mongolia
• Dzavhan
• Olgiy
• Tsagaan-Olom
• Ulaanbaatar
  Mongolia was actually a pro-Soviet communist state, even though it was nominally neutral for most of WWII.  It had close ties to the USSR, along whose side it fought in border wars with Japan in the late 1930s and later during the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in August 1945.  It served as a buffer state between the USSR and Japanese-controlled Manchuria during WWII, and provided supplies and raw materials to the Soviet military during this period.

Disputable map situation:
[Portugal]
[Homeland Territory of Portugal]

• Portugal
  [Territories Under Portuguese Jurisdiction]
• Angola
• Portuguese Guinea
• Mozambique
  Portugal was under the authoritarian rule of Antonio de Oliveira Salazar at the time of WWII, but it traditionally had close ties to Great Britain.  Although nominally neutral, it allowed the Allies to lease air bases in the Azores from 1943 onward and thus technically became a co-belligerent against the Axis.

Disputable map situation:
[Spain]
[Homeland Territory of Spain]

• Spain
  [Territories Under Spanish Jurisdiction]
• Rio de Oro
  In WWII, Spain was ruled by ultranationalist dictator Francisco Franco, who had received substantial assistance – including military support – from Germany and Italy during the Spanish Civil War which had brought him to power.  Still rebuilding from that conflict, Spain did not have the resources to join WWII on its own.  Franco implied to Hitler that Spain would enter the war on the Axis side if Germany provided it with sufficient material support, but the two of them never reached an agreement on terms and it has been suggested that Franco’s exorbitant demands were in fact intended to keep Spain out of the war.  The Franco regime showed marked Axis sympathies early in the war, and sent volunteers to fight alongside Germans against the Soviet Union in the form of the Blue Division, but declared its neutrality in July 1943 as an eventual Allied victory began to look possible.  Spain completed the removal of its troops from the Eastern Front in March 1944.

[CWO Marc]

SECTION 14C:
“STRICT NEUTRAL” BLOCK: Selective Notes (part 2)

• Afghanistan
  Afghanistan maintained its neutrality throughout WWII.

Disputable map situation:

• Argentina
  Argentina in WWII had an appreciable Axis inclination – partly because of its large German population, partly because of its traditional rivalry with Great Britain, and partly because it was ruled by a succession of nationalist and military governments.  Balanced against these factors were internal policy disagreements as well as pressure from the US to join the Allied side.  As a result, Argentina remained nominally neutral for most of the war.  It joined the Allies in 1945.

• Bolivia
  Bolivia joined the Allies in April 1943. It was the only country to declare war in that year.

• Chile
  Chile, a country with close trading ties with Germany, initially chose to remain neutral (in contrast with many South American countries which, although technically neutral, tilted slightly towards the Allied side early in the war).  Chile only started to distance itself from the Axis powers in 1943, when it broke diplomatic relations with them.

Disputable map situation:

• Colombia
  Colombia broke diplomatic relations with the Axis powers after the attack on Pearl Harbor, provided the Allies with oil, and in November 1943 declared a “status of belligerency” against Germany after a German submarine sank a Colombian ship.  It was appreciably tilted towards the Allied side.

• Ecuador
  Ecuador was one of several South American nations to join the Allies very late in the war, in 1945.  Ecuador let the U.S. use Baltra Island for a naval base.  It was somewhat tilted towards the Allied side.

Disputable map situation:

• Liberia
  Liberia remained technically neutral until January 1944, when it declared war on Germany, but in practice it offered a great deal of aid to the Allies from an early date.  It served as an important transit point for Allied troops and supplies, and it became a valuable supplier of rubber when the Allies were cut off from other sources by the  Japanese occupation of Southeast Asia.  It was appreciably tilted towards the Allied side.

Disputable map situation:

• Paraguay
  Paraguay had a large German community and an authoritarian government which was sympathetic to the Axis powers early in the war.  It considered joining the war on the Axis side, but the US kept it neutral by providing it with aid and military hardware in 1942.  It only declared war against the Axis in 1945.  It had an appreciable Axis inclination.

[CWO Marc]

SECTION 14D:
“STRICT NEUTRAL” BLOCK: Selective Notes (part 3)

Disputable map situation:

• Peru
  Peru was one of several South American nations to join the Allies very late in the war, in 1945.  It broke off relations with the Axis in January 1942 and allowed its port city of Talara to became an American air base, and its navy patrolled the Panama Canal area.  It was appreciably tilted towards the Allied side.

Disputable map situation:

• Saudi Arabia
  Saudi Arabia broke diplomatic relations with Germany in September 1939 and with Japan in October 1941. Although officially neutral until 1945 (when it joined the Allies), it supplied the Allies with oil and it allowed the Americans to build an air base near Dhahran.  It was appreciably tilted towards the Allied side.

Disputable map situation:

• Sierra Leone
  Sierra Leone, incorrectly depicted as a neutral state on the G40/2 map, was actually a British possession from 1792 to 1961.

• Sweden
  Sweden maintained neutrality throughout WWII, though it allowed trains to travel on Swedish railroads between Germany and German-occupied Norway.

• Switzerland
  Switzerland maintained its neutrality throughout WWII.  A German invasion of Switzerland planned for 1940 never occurred; Switzerland was well prepared to defend itself militarily and its mountainous terrain would have made an invasion difficult.

• Turkey
  Turkey maintained its neutrality until 1945, when it joined the Allies.

• Uruguay
  Uruguay declared its neutrality in September 1939 and maintained it for most of the war.  It broke off relations with the Axis powers in early 1942, but it only joined the Allies in 1945.

Disputable map situation:

• Venezuela
  Venezuela broke diplomatic relations with the Axis countries after Pearl Harbor and provided the Allies with great quantities of oil, though it technically remained neutral for most of the war.

[CWO Marc]

SECTION 15:
OTHER MAP FEATURES: G40/2 Map Inventory

IMPASSABLE TERRAIN FEATURES

• Pripet Marshes

• Sahara Desert

• Himalayas
  (Named on the G40/1 map but not on the G40/2 map)

SPECIAL ACCESS ROUTES

• Panama Canal

• Suez Canal

• Burma Road
  (Named on the G40/1 map but not on the G40/2 map)

[Witt]

That made for a very informative and interesting read, Marc.
Many thanks.