Seiken Akamine, a House of Representatives member of the Japanese Communist Party, brought to light an internal document of the Ministry of Defense (MOD) at a meeting of the Lower House Committee on Security held on Nov. 29. The document is titled “Task Force Plan” (dated March 29, 2012). The lawmaker revealed that the MOD had deliberated on operations for “recapturing an island,” with a scenario of Okinawa Prefecture’s Ishigakijima Island falling under enemy occupation.
According to the document classified as “strictly confidential,” the Defense Ministry assumes that as the first stage, there will be combats between 2,000 Self-Defense Forces members, already deployed to the island, and a total of 4,500 enemy troops landing there. According to the document, the battles, including tanks, take place at six locations all over the island and continue until “the survival rate of either the SDF or the enemy becomes 30%.” The document further notes that the SDF is “losing” the fight with 538 SDF members remaining whereas the enemy 2,019.
The document assumes that the fight will move on to the second stage by reinforcing the SDF with a total of 1,774 airborne battalion and infantry regiment troops. This will make, according to the document, the SDF “outnumber” the enemy with the final number of remaining SDF members at 889 and enemy soldiers at 679. The document concludes, “Recapturing the island will probably be possible with a total reinforcement of 2,000 troops.”
In the meantime, the document also refers to the “protection of the people,” saying, “The SDF will not primarily be responsible for (the protection of the people); therefore, it cannot estimate details,” This indicates that the protection of local residents will have low priority and they could be involved in the battles.
Akamine pointed out, “This is similar to the Battle of Okinawa during World War II in which there were fierce ground battles on the main island of Okinawa, with the military and Okinawa’s local residents being mixed up, leaving many casualties.” The legislator strongly called for the suspension and cancellation of the SDF deployment to the Southwest Islands and scrapping the security legislation.
