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Biggest Axis-Controlled Cities

Try to name the most populous modern-day urban areas that were controlled by the Axis powers in each theater of action.
Not counting the overseas territories of the Vichy regime
Urban area population according to citypopulation.de, 2025
Loosely defined areas are filled in
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: March 10, 2025
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First submittedNovember 6, 2015
Times taken37,517
Average score68.1%
Rating4.39
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Pacific Theater
Pop.
Urban area
72.7 m
Guangzhou /
Shenzhen
41.6 m
Shanghai
41.2 m
Tokyo
29.5 m
Jakarta
27.8 m
Manila
25.2 m
Seoul
21.8 m
Bangkok
21.5 m
Beijing
17.7 m
Osaka
15.4 m
Xiamen
14.6 m
Hangzhou
14.3 m
Ho Chi Minh City
Pacific Theater
Pop.
Urban area
12.6 m
Wuhan
11.7 m
Tianjin
10.5 m
Nagoya
10.3 m
Zhengzhou
10.1 m
Taipei
9.55 m
Kuala Lumpur
9.50 m
Nanjing
8.80 m
Shenyang
8.20 m
Hefei
8.05 m
Shantou
8.00 m
Singapore
7.70 m
Qingdao
7.60 m
Ningbo
7.55 m
Hong Kong
Europe / Africa
Pop.
Urban area
11.5 m
Paris
10.9 m
Rhine-Ruhr
6.15 m
Milan
4.83 m
Addis Ababa
4.70 m
Berlin
4.05 m
Naples
3.58 m
Athens
3.48 m
Kyiv
3.45 m
Rotterdam /
The Hague
3.43 m
Rome
3.23 m
Frankfurt
Europe / Africa
Pop.
Urban area
2.90 m
Hamburg
2.80 m
Brussels
2.73 m
Tunis
2.58 m
Amsterdam
2.53 m
Budapest
2.48 m
Warsaw
2.38 m
Vienna
2.30 m
Stuttgart
2.30 m
Munich
2.25 m
Mogadishu
2.23 m
Bucharest
51 Comments
+6
Level 76
Nov 25, 2015
Algiers and Tunis were in the North African Theater, later renamed the Mediterranean Theater when it was expanded to include southern Italy.
+4
Level 78
Nov 26, 2015
Shouldn't Tianjin be here as well?
+3
Level 87
Nov 26, 2015
Tianjin should definitely be there, its urban area comprises 10 million people and it was controlled by the japanese. Other big cities like Chengdu and Chongqing were not, so this quiz is quite subtle.
+3
Level ∞
Nov 26, 2015
Yes, Tianjin was missing.
+8
Level 89
Dec 11, 2015
These quizzes that combine history and geography are the best.
+2
Level 70
Jan 21, 2016
Should Bangkok be on the list?
+2
Level 56
Jan 21, 2016
Thailand was an axis power so it definitely should.
+1
Level ∞
Oct 12, 2018
Added Bangkok since Thailand signed an official alliance with Japan in 1942.
+2
Level 79
Oct 12, 2018
Thailand - or rather Siam - was the last country Britain declared war on.
+1
Level 86
Jan 21, 2016
Addis Ababa?
+1
Level 86
Jan 21, 2016
Mogadishu also?
+1
Level 68
Jan 24, 2016
Mogadishu is just barely beaten out. Addis Ababa, however, should be included since its metro area exceeds 4 million and it was a part of Italian East Africa from 1936-1941. Surely Quizmaster knows about the Abyssinian Crisis and its role in the downfall of the League of Nations.
+1
Level ∞
Oct 12, 2018
Added Addis Ababa
+1
Level 41
Jan 23, 2016
Ho Chi Mihn city was called Siagon back during WWII.
+2
Level 68
Jan 24, 2016
*Saigon. I agree that it should be accepted but this quiz uses modern names only, so Ho Chi Minh City is what should be displayed.
+1
Level 90
Aug 16, 2018
It's still called Saigon in Vietnam. No one on Earth calls it Ho Chi Minh City except people trying to act correct.
+3
Level 51
Aug 15, 2019
lol you must be a south vietnam loser. When I visited Vietnam they used both names interchangeably. At the airports for example, they would say flights to Ho Chi Minh.
+13
Level 75
Nov 27, 2020
Stop acting correct, guys, no one calls it New York City. It's still called Nieuw Amsterdam.
+4
Level 67
Feb 21, 2021
Lmao European loser its actually called Onondaga.
+2
Level 90
Jul 27, 2021
To answer Lomeo, Ho Chi Minh City is the technical name for the large metropolitan government covering several thousand square kilometers. The urban city is still named Saigon and is what everybody I've ever known from Vietnam calls it.

Whether people from the southern part of the country are losers is your own bigotry. Seeing as the actual natives of Saigon are from the south, they should know the city better than others I would think though.

+2
Level 70
Jan 23, 2017
What about Bangkok? The Thais were allied with Japan and Addis Ababa which the Italians had before the war in 1935?
+1
Level 71
Jun 8, 2017
Good quiz.
+1
Level 41
Dec 5, 2017
Surprised to see Kiev here. I’d bet it was part of Soviet during WWII. Apparantly not.
+7
Level 43
Dec 15, 2017
They were part of the USSR, the Germans just conquered it
+2
Level 76
Jan 11, 2018
It seems if Algiers and Tunis count, there is no reson to exclude Casablanca (4.2M)?
+2
Level ∞
Oct 12, 2018
I removed Algiers. It seems like Tunis was controlled directly by the Italians.
+1
Level 84
Oct 19, 2018
Wikipedia: "During World War II, Tunis was held by Axis forces from November 1942 to May 1943."
+2
Level 34
Feb 14, 2018
Damn, forgot Singapore! Annoyed!
+1
Level 59
Oct 14, 2018
What do you mean by urban areas? Don't you mean cities? And the population nowadays was quite incorrect
+2
Level 84
Oct 19, 2018
"Cities" makes for a better title. Urban areas certainly aren't cities.
+1
Level 55
Dec 28, 2018
I'm always surprised by the numbers. For instance, 800.000 people live in Amsterdam and 600.000 in Rotterdam. There are of course relatively big cities around those two cities but I cannot believe they make up for 2.43 m and 3.20 m respectively for A'dam and R'dam.
+4
Level 76
Dec 28, 2018
+2
Level 73
Apr 17, 2019
I love this quiz because it combines history and geography!
+3
Level 64
Nov 28, 2020
Almost thought Wuhan was too inland.
+1
Level 72
Feb 28, 2021
Brussels ?

At least in an other quiz it is above 2.2 million...

+1
Level ∞
Feb 28, 2021
Added, thanks.
+2
Level 89
Feb 28, 2021
Bucharest?
+1
Level 90
Jul 25, 2021
Thailand never signed the Tripartite pact. Counting co-belligerents is fine, but then Baghdad also needs to be included.
+2
Level 69
Jul 25, 2021
Baghdad was ruled for a few weeks by a group of pro-Axis Iraqi generals, who were supported by (a few) planes of the German and Italian air forces. Not sure if it should count.
+1
Level 74
Jul 25, 2021
"Name the most populous modern-day urban areas that were ONCE controlled by the Axis powers"
+3
Level 45
Jul 27, 2021
Shenzhen? Most chinese don't consider it a part of Guangzhou and if you include HK then you should also include Shenzhen (pop 18mil)
+1
Level 73
Jul 27, 2021
That's what I was thinking
+1
Level 60
Jul 29, 2021
agreed
+2
Level 71
Aug 21, 2023
I live two hours from Stuttgart but didn't bother typing it since ABSOLUTELY NOBODY thinks in terms of urban areas here, arghhh!

Stuttgart has about 650k inhabitants, plus 2 million is ridiculous! Who defines these areas???

+2
Level 86
Mar 11, 2024
I’m surprised at the omission of Nanjing.
+1
Level ∞
Mar 10, 2025
Fixed
+3
Level 32
Feb 24, 2025
Guangzhou should probably be Pearl River Delta if you're going to include that much population
+1
Level 77
Mar 10, 2025
First time here?
+1
Level 69
Mar 10, 2025
It is only the population of Shenzhen and Guangzhou, not Macau or Hong Kong...Hong Kong is even in the quiz as its own answer!
+1
Level 77
Mar 10, 2025
why is Ho Chi Minh City on this list when the quiz states it excludes overseas territories of the Vichy regime? HCM City was Saigon, the capital of French Indochina. And Tunis was in French North Africa too. Perhaps that line about Vichy territories should be deleted....
+4
Level ∞
Mar 10, 2025
HCMC: Occupied by Japan

Tunis: Occupied by Germany

Vichy France did NOT control those territories throughout the entire war.