Japan Press Weekly

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2015 June 17 - 23 [POLITICS]

There is no such thing as ‘100% safe’ for combat-linked logistics operations

Akahata ‘current’ column

Napoleon Bonaparte is said to have introduced the military supply system. It was a revolutionary idea to keep troops operating at full capacity through logistical support. That’s one of the reasons why he is still considered a military genius.

An Israeli military historian wrote a book titled “Supplying War: Logistics from Wallenstein to Patton”. It’s about European military history from the perspective of logistics. In the book, he asserts that logistics, which supplies food and ammunition, keep an army active and determine the outcome of battles. He quoted an old saying, “Amateurs talk tactics. Professionals talk logistics.”

The more we see of wars, the more we come to understand how heavily a war depends on the well-managed storage of supplies and transportation. Therefore, logistics installations are always targeted for military attack. “This is a common knowledge of military action that the international community has,” said Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo to Prime Minister Abe Shinzo the other day.

Abe admitted to the fact that logistics are “extremely important” elements of war. He has so far evaded the point by using the word “rear-area support” which his political party coined. However, in the one-on-one debate with the JCP chair, Abe had to use the word “logistics” many times, exposing the true nature of rear-area support.

He said that providing supplies in areas where no battle is taking place is “common knowledge”. When it comes to logistics operations directly linked to battle, who can tell where a so-called safe area is? He has repeatedly said that logistics personnel will never be caught up in battle, but now he says, “It doesn’t mean that they will be caught up in battle.”

If armed Japanese forces go off to overseas wars and play a part in combat-linked missions, they will have to risk their lives no matter how many conditions the Abe government sets to approve their dispatch. Public opinion and Diet interpellations are one after another refuting the arguments Abe and his aides have given, driving the war bills into a corner. No logistics strategy in wars exists to support their arguments.

Past related articles:
> Abe is telling a pack of lies about war legislation: SDF members [June 14, 2015]
> Coffins for SDF personnel readied for overseas missions: Defense Minister [June 13, 2015]
> Deaths in battle could become more likely under war legislation [June 7, 2015]
> If war laws had existed, SDF might have joined in US-led wars from 1990 [June 6, 2015]
> Abe might dispatch SDF under war legislation to participate in ISAF-like force [June 4, 2015]