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Naval History and Heritage Command #NH 67127
Hangchow (Hangzhou; 120.167E
30.211N)
is the capital of Chekiang Province in eastern China.
It is located on the Chientang River and was the southern terminus of
the Grand Canal. Its history
can be traced back to at least
2000 B.C., and it was one
of the cities described by Marco Polo. The population in 1941 was in the ballpark of 550,000 persons.
Hangchow was opened to foreign trade in 1896, but the strong tidal bore from Hangchow Bay keeps the river silted up and closed to most oceangoing vessels. Hence the city has never been a major ocean port. There was an airfield here as early as 1937.
On 26 February 1932, during the first Shanghai incident, the Japanese Navy surprised much of the Chinese Air Force on the ground at Hangchow and inflicted heavy losses. The raid was based on intelligence obtained by decoding American diplomatic cables from Shanghai. Japanese forces landed
on the coast northeast of Hangchow on 5 November 1937 in order to flank
the Chinese defenses in front of Shanghai. Hangchow itself was occupied
on 24 December 1937, apparently against negligible resistance by 10 Army Group. The Japanese remained in control of the city for the remainder of the war.
The city was apparently garrisoned by 22 Division when war broke out
in the Pacific.
References
Tasmanian Advocate (1937-12-28; accessed 2012-5-24)
Populstat.info (accessed 2014-6-8)
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