Touring the <I>Europa</I> Seashore With Occasional Excursions Further Afield Sweden

Touring the Europa Seashore

Sweden

by A.E. Goodwin

This issue Arthur takes us to Sweden, which appears on Maps 1B, 5B, 10A, and 13.

The Stockholm River

Hex 5B:5026 is unique among the Europa maps in having a river running through the center of the hex. This quite accurately depicts that Stockholm (the city) actually is divided in half by the river, but makes it very hard to determine what effects the river should have on movement and combat. John Astell indicates that the river was deliberately drawn in this manner in order to allow access to Lake Malaren while at the same time showing the river has no effect on movement or combat. (The many bridges in Stockholm effectively negate the river's effect on movement, while its combat effects are included in the combat modifier of the full city hex.)

Sodertorn

Almost all Swedish maps of period show hexes 1B:0226, 0227, 0126, and 0127 as the separate island of Sodertorn. Close study shows that the fjord between hexes 0227/0228 actually extends deep into the coast almost up to the rail line in hex 0127. Similarly, an arm of Lake Malaren extends south to just north of that same rail line. The rail line then crosses either a river or a canal which spans the gap between the fjord and the arm of the lake. This island figures prominently in most Swedish defense plans also, as it is here that Sweden planned to make a final stand if invaded. I recommend adding a minor river running west of hexes 0127 and 0227 to show this.

Gota Ship Canal

The Gota Ship Canal which cuts across central Sweden is not shown and probably should be. This begins at hexside 1B:0330/0331 and then runs north of the chain of hexes 1B:0331, 0332, 0232, 13:0201, 0102, and 10A:5103, 5003, and 4904.

Torne River

One of the largest rivers in Sweden, the Torne (which runs along the border between Sweden and Finland), got left off the maps. I recommend adding it to the maps. It would run along the Swedish/Finnish border to just south of hex 5B:2104 and then NW in a straight line to the large lake next to Kiruna (the Tornetrask).

Vaster/Oster Dalaven.

The river currently shown adjacent to hexes 5B:3732 and 3733 is incorrect. Just south of Lake Siljan (the lake next to 5B:4209) the Dalaven river splits into its two major branches - the Vasterdalaven and the Osterdalaven, with the Oster branch plotting just to the west of hexes 4129, 4029, 3930, 3830, 3731, 3630, 3531, and 3431 (final hexside at 3431/3432) and the Vester branch plotting just to the south and west of hexes 4130, 4131, 4132, 4032, 3932, 3832, 3732, and 3632 (final hexside at 3632/3733). Of the two branches, the Oster is the more important and should be the one shown.

Swedish Lakes

A number of large lakes got left out of Sweden. These include:

A look at a modern map of Sweden shows several more lakes, but there has been a lot of dam construction since WWII; the lakes listed above were extant prior to the war.

The lake currently shown adjacent to hex 5B:2324 should be replaced by separate lakes at hexsides 2324/2424 and 2324/ 2323.The lake currently shown on the map is actually a composite of two lakes: Kvarbergsvaffnet and Stormjorm; however, Kvarbergsvaffnet basically runs east-west, parallel to the border, while Stormjorm runs north-south further inland. (Note: the reason for advocating the breakup of this "lake" is not because it is a composite (many of the "lakes" on the maps are actually composites of two or more lakes separated by only very minor gaps which at Europa scale effectively do not exist); rather it is to better show these lake's effect on movement.)

Swedish Rail Lines

The eastern coast of Sweden between Karlskrona and Norkopping is shown as devoid of rail lines which makes it difficult to keep units in this area in supply in poor weather.

As period maps show the entire area crisscrossed with railroads (including one which runs the length of Oland island), this would seem incorrect. At a minimum I think that the Nassjo-Kalmar line (the most important of the rail lines in the area) should be added to the maps. This would run through hexes 13:0504, 0603, 0703, 0802, 0903, 1002, and 1102.

The plotting of two of the Swedish transportation lines seems to be off. The Harnosand-Backe line ran along the west bank of the Angerman river and thus should run through hexes 5B:3420, 3321, 3221, 3122, and 3021 and the junction currently shown in hex 1B:0231 actually occurs at Norkopping.
Backe

The reference city of Backe is misplotted and should be in hex 5B:29211. (This city is 18 miles south of the rail junction shown in 5B:2821.)

Orust/Tjorn

The current depiction of the island shown in hexes 1OA:4808, 4809, 4909, and 4910 (actually the two islands of Orust and Tjorn) is ambiguous and could be cleaned up by deleting the portions of the island group shown in hexes 4808, 4809, and 4909 and redrawing the island to fit entirely within hex 10A:4910.

Additional Swedish Islands

Add islands of Gotska Sandon 1B:0625, clear terrain) and Holmon/Angeson (5B:3414, clear terrain).

Map Overlap Problems

Hexes 13:0201 & 0200 are shown as clear terrain while the corresponding hexes on map 1B (0232 & 0233) are shown as woods. Since map 13 is generally acknowledged as in need of revision, go with the terrain on 1B.

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