  We examine the role of global topological data associated to choices of
holonomy for flat gauge fields in string compactification. Our study begins
with perturbative string compactification on compact flat manifolds preserving
8 supercharges in 5 dimensions. By including non-trivial holonomy for Wilson
lines in the heterotic string and for the B-field gerbe in the type II string
we find worldsheet dualities that relate these backgrounds to other string
compactifications. While our simple examples allow for explicit analysis, the
concepts and some of the methods extend to a broader class of compactifications
and have implications for string dualities, perturbative and otherwise.
