(Hankou; 114.290E 30.554N) It was as Hankow that most foreigners referred to the metropolitan area the Chinese called Wuhan. Wuhan actually consisted of three neighboring cities: Hankow, Hanyang and Wuchang. However, Hankow included 1.2 million of the total Wuhan population of 1.5 million people in 1938. Hankow was the industrial heart of China prior to the city's capture by the Japanese, with the steel works at Hanyang accounting for most of China’s production (900,000 tons per year in 1943.)
Hankow was also a major river port on the Yangtze, and during the high-water season it was accessible to oceangoing vessels of up to 10,000 tons. The middle and lower Yangtze had not been bridged in 1941 and Hankow was a major ferry point for traffic across the river.
When war broke out in the Pacific, 11 Army
was based in the city, and 1 Air Brigade and 66 Squadron were based at the
airfield.
Hankow enjoys a pleasant temperate climate with ample rainfall during the main growing season.
Climate Information:
Elevation: 121'
Temperatures: Jan 46/34, Apr 69/55, Jul 93/79, Oct 73/60, record 106/13
Rainfall: Jan 6/1.8, Apr 7/6.0, Jul 9/7.1, Oct 5/3.2 == 49.5" per annum Peak Jun 10/9.6
References
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia (c) 2007 by Kent G. Budge. Index