World at War 106: France Overseas, 1940

Both sides’ orders of battle are historically based. That is, the German force in Spain is what they had intended to use for the invasion of England around this same time. The assumption there is, if they believed they could lift that force across the English Channel, the Strait of Gibraltar would have presented less difficulty – eight miles wide vs. 21 at the Pas de Calais – once Spain had been dragooned into joining the Axis.

The Spanish divisions are the two corps of their Army of North Africa (the original supporters of Franco). The rest of their ground force is assumed to be invading Portugal, as was their plan had things gone this way. During the game the Allied player will have to cope with decisions made ‘above his head’ in London in regard to fleet commitment and the BEF’s initial landing site. That arbitrariness is reflective of the Allies’ historic inability to create smoothly operating joint service headquarters during the war’s first half.

Each game turn represents half a month. Each hex represents about 10 days. Each hex is 20 miles (32.4 km) from side-to-side. Units are divisions.