VimyとDieppe

(Oxford学習辞典)

Armistice Day 

11 November, the anniversary of the end of World War I, also called Poppy Day. People used to stop what they were doing at 11 a.m. on Armistice Day and stand in silence for two minutes to remember the dead. After World War II it was replaced by Remembrance Sunday in Britain and Veterans' Day in America.

11月11日は第一次世界大戦の休戦記念日。トランプが戦没者墓地への訪問をドタキャンしたことについてツイッターでは髪型が乱れることや日焼けスプレーが落ちることをなどの呆れた理由を勝手に推測されていました。。。

worried about the helmet hair & orange spray tan, couldn't waddle into the rain?

You were hiding in your hotel watching TV & tweeting while world leaders stood in the rain to commemorate fallen soldiers. You were afraid your spray-on tan would run, your fake hair would look even more ridiculous wet & you'd have to hold your own umbrella, if you could open it.

トランプとは対照的に男を上げる形になったのはカナダのトルドー首相。ツイッターで紹介されていたのはスピーチの最後の部分だったようで、スピーチ全部を見ると最初は雨が強過ぎて傘を差しています。。。

"As we sit here in the rain, thinking how uncomfortable we must be these minutes as our suits get wet and our hair gets wet and our shoes get wet, I think it's all the more fitting that we remember on that day, in Dieppe, the rain wasn't rain, it was bullets" 

ただ、こちらは第一次世界大戦関連ではなく、第二次世界大戦関連のもので昨年実施されたスピーチでした。

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau remembers the sacrifice made by Canadian soldiers during the Dieppe raid 75 years ago during World War II

「なぜDieppeか」気になるところですが、カナダの人的損害が大きかった場所のようです。

(Wikipedia)

ディエップの戦い（ディエップのたたかい、Dieppe Raid）は、1942年8月19日に行なわれた連合軍のフランスへの奇襲上陸作戦。正式な作戦名は「ジュビリー作戦（Operation Jubilee）」。不充分な兵力と作戦のため最初から勝算は薄かった上、事前に作戦実行の秘密がドイツ側に漏れていたため、連合軍は大損害を受け、完全な失敗に終わった。

（Oxford）

Dieppe

A channel port in northern France, from which ferries run to Newhaven and elsewhere; population 34,670 (2006). In August 1942 it was the scene of an unsuccessful amphibious raid by a joint force of British and Canadian troops to destroy the German-held port and airfield.

先週末パリに行く前にカナダのトルドー首相が訪れたのがフランスのVimy。第一次世界大戦の頃はカナダは独立国家になっていなかったのですが、カナダからの兵士が戦った場所のようで、この記念碑はCanadian National Vimy Memorialだそうです。

(Oxford)

Vimy Ridge, Battle of

An Allied attack on the German position of Vimy Ridge, near Arras, during the First World War. One of the key points on the Western Front, it had long resisted assaults, but on 9 April 1917 it was taken by Canadian troops in fifteen minutes, at the cost of heavy casualties.

このような動画を作成しているのもカナダの放送局です。DieppeもVimyもネイティブ向けのOxford英語辞典では触れてくれていましたが、学習辞典であるOALDの方では見出しになっていませんでした。Vimy近くのSommeではイギリス軍が参加した激戦地だったため掲載されています。

(Oxford学習辞典)

the Battles of the Somme 

two long battles that took place in the valley of the river Somme in northern France during World War I. In the first battle, which lasted from July to November 1916, more than a million British, French and German soldiers died. The second battle lasted two weeks in the spring of 1918, and almost half a million soldiers died. Very little ground or any other advantage was won by either side in these battles, which are considered among the most terrible in history.

もしOALDがカナダで作られていたら、VimyもDieppeも見出語に採用されていたことでしょう。休戦100周年を迎えましたが、参加国によって語られるストーリは少しずつ違うはずです。日本と第一次世界大戦についてはJapan Timesが記事にしてくれていました。

NATIONAL / HISTORY

Examining Japan’s first foray into global warfare

BY ERIC JOHNSTON

STAFF WRITER

At 11 a.m., Nov. 11, 1918, the guns along the Western Front in France and Belgium fell silent. World War I, known at the time as the “Great War,” was at an end. What began in August 1914 as a conflict among the European powers that was widely predicted to be over by Christmas had exploded into the largest and bloodiest international conflict in history, involving dozens of countries from all corners of the globe. The hostilities involved Japan, which fought on the side of Great Britain, Canada, France, Belgium, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and a handful of other countries against Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Turkey and Bulgaria.

Historians generally agree that somewhere around 9 million military personnel perished in the war and another 22 million were wounded. It’s believed that more than 9 million civilians also died in the conflict. The war profoundly influenced everything that followed it in the 20th century, including World War II and the resulting Cold War.

A century later, Nov. 11 continues to be known as Remembrance Day, or Veterans Day in the United States. Today, as solemn official ceremonies to mark the 100th anniversary take place in many parts of the world, we look back at Japan’s role in the war and how that role shaped the country domestically and on the international stage.