The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
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Hunan is a province of central China south of the Yangtze River. Most of the province is mountainous, but it also takes in the flat, marshy country around Tungting (Dongting) Lake north of the provincial capital of Changsha. This area supported rice and cotton cultivation. Other major cities were Chuchow and Hengyang. All were located on the major north-south rail corridor of interior China.
The Hsuehfeng (Xuefeng) Mountains in the western half of the province were rich in mineral resources, including the coal fields of Shaoyang and tungsten in the Hsi-k'uang district.
The Japanese made four attempts to seize Changsha, the third just as war broke out in the Pacific. The fourth attempt, during the Ichi-go offensive of 1944, ended with seizure of most of the points of military value in the province. The Japanese also launched a large-scale raid against Changteh (111.683E 29.033N) on 2 November 1943 that cost both sides heavily.
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