Prewar and Postwar Countries 1939-1947

The DXCC Countries 1939-1947. Second World War II caused a lot of political changes and this caused also lot of changes in the DX Countries List. It was not easy to construct a good Countries List, but the the ARRL cleared the job. The new DXCC list was published in February, 1947, QST (page 49-50). If you compare the 1947 Countries List with the last Prewar List, then some changes are remarkable. However the DXCC rules did not tell how countries did count for the DXCC award and how a new country could get on the list. The removed/Changed “Countries “ Aegan Islands (no prefix issued) The Aegean Islands are the group of islands in the Aegean Sea, with mainland Greece to the west and north and Turkey to the east; the island of Crete delimits the sea to the south, those of Rhodes, Karpathos and Kasos to the southeast. The Aegean Islands are traditionally subdivided into seven groups, from north to south: • Northeastern Aegean Islands • (Northern) Sporades • Euboea • Argo-Saronic Islands • Cyclades • Dodecanese (Southern Sporades) • Crete In the Postwar list, Dodecanese was included, and got SV5 as prefix. Aden and Socrota (no prefix issued) Until 1937, Aden was governed as part of British India and was known as the Aden Settlement. Its original territory was enlarged in 1857 by the 13 km2 (5.0 sq mi) island of Perim, in 1868 by the 73 km2 (28 sq mi) Khuriya Muriya Islands, and in 1915 by the 108 km2 (42 sq mi) island of Kamaran. The settlement would become Aden Province in 1935. In 1937, the Settlement was detached from India and became the Colony of Aden, a British Crown colony. The change in government was a step towards the change in monetary units seen in the stamps illustrating this article. When British India became independent in 1947, Indian rupees (divided into annas) were replaced in Aden by East African shillings. The hinterland of Aden and Hadhramaut were also loosely tied to Britain as the Aden Protectorate which was overseen from Aden. The archipelago of Socotra was part of the Governorate of Aden. Te distance between Aden and Socrota is more than 900 Kilometers. The two countries, Aden and the second one, Socrota were combined into just one country called Aden & Socrota in the Postwar List. In 1967 Aden became the capital of South Yemen. Straits Settlements (prefix VS1) The Straits Settlements originally consisted of the four individual settlements of Malacca, Dinding, Penang and Singapore. The Penang territory included Penang Island, formerly known as Prince of Wales Island, and Seberang Perai on the mainland, formerly known as Province Wellesley. Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands were also included. The island of Labuan, off the coast of Borneo, was also incorporated into the colony with effect from 1 January 1907, becoming a separate settlement within it in 1912. Most of the territories now form part of Malaysia, from which Singapore separated in 1965. The Cocos (or Keeling) Islands were transferred to Australian control in 1955. Christmas Island was transferred in 1958. Their administration was combined in 1996 to form the Australian Indian Ocean Territories. The colony was dissolved in 1946 as part of the British reorganisation of its Southeast Asian dependencies following the end of the Second World War. In The postwar list this country was combined with Federated Malay States into one Malaya with prefix VS1 and VS2. Federal Malay States (prefix VS2) The Federated Malay States (FMS) was a federation of four protected states in the Malay Peninsula—Selangor, Perak, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang—established by the British government in 1895, which lasted until 1946, when they, together with two of the former Straits Settlements (Malacca and Penang) and the Unfederated Malay States, formed the Malayan Union. Two years later, the Union became the Federation of Malaya and finally Malaysia in 1963 with the inclusion of North Borneo (present-day Sabah), Sarawak and Singapore. Singapore separated from Malaysia in 1965. The Federation was dissolved in 1946 as part of the British reorganisation of its Southeast Asian dependencies following the end of the Second World War. In The postwar list this country was combined with Straight Settlements into one Malaya with prefix VS1 and VS2. Danzig (prefix YM) The Free City of Danzig was a semi-autonomous city-state that existed between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) and nearly 200 towns in the surrounding areas. It was created on 15 November 1920 in accordance with the terms of Article 100 (Section XI of Part III) of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles after the end of World War I. Danzig was connected to Germany by means of a corridor. More and more Danzig wanted to be part of Hitler-Germany. After Albert Foster (Gauleiter) became head of state in August 1939, he took over Danzig by military forces. The city then became a part of Germany, and the Wehrmacht entered Poland. World War II was a fact. After World War II, Danzig became a part of Poland (city of Gdansk). Gough Island (no prefix issued) Gough Island (409 Kilometers South East of Tristan da Cunha) was formally claimed in 1938 for Britain, during a visit by HMS Milford of the Royal Navy. In the Postwar Countries List, Gough Island was connected to Tristan Da Cunha, to just one DXCC country. It is now a dependency of Tristan da Cunha. Hejaz (prefix HZ) The Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz was a state in the Hejaz region in the Middle East ruled by the Hashemite dynasty. It achieved national independence after the destruction of the Ottoman Empire by the British Empire, during World War I, when the Sharif of Mecca fought in alliance with the British Imperial forces to drive the Turkish Army from the Arabian Peninsula during the Arab Revolt. The new kingdom had a brief life and then was conquered in 1925 by the neighbouring Sultanate of Nejd under a resurgent House of Saud, creating the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd. On 23 September 1932, the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd joined the Saudi dominions of Al-Hasa and Qatif, as the unified Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This fact was the reason that Hejaz was changed into Saudi Arabia in the Postwar DXCC list. Saudi Arabia and Hejaz were in the Prewar DXCC list mentioned as two different countries. After the war, Saudi Arabia (including Hejaz) did get the prefix HZ. Nicobar Islands (no prefix issued) During World War II, the islands were occupied by Japan between 1942 and 1945. India occupied these islands after the Surrender of Japan, as its Territory. The Nicobar Islands are an archipelago chain in the eastern Indian Ocean. They are located in Southeast Asia, 150 km north of Aceh on Sumatra, and separated from Thailand to the east by the Andaman Sea. Located 1,300 km southeast of the Indian subcontinent, across the Bay of Bengal, they form now part of the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. In the Postwar list, the Nicobar Islands got the name Andaman Islands, Nicobar Islands. No prefix was given to the islands. Tasmania (prefix VK7) The island was initially part of the Colony of New South Wales (Australia), but became a separate, self- governing colony under the name Van Diemen's Land (named after Anthony van Diemen) in 1825. In 1854 the present Constitution of Tasmania was passed and the following year the state received permission to change its name to Tasmania. In 1901 it became a state through the process of the Federation of Australia. Tasmania s an island state of Australia. It is located 240 km (150 mi) to the south of the Australian mainland, separated by the Bass Strait. In the new DXCC list, Australia and Tasmania became just one entry.