#wartime — Public Fediverse posts

‘A Way for Russian Occupiers Go Home’: Ukraine Intel Reveals Why Kerch Bridge Still Stands

In brief: Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence says the Kerch Bridge remains politically symbolic but has lost much of its military value as Russia relies more on land routes through occupied southern Ukraine. Deputy intelligence chief Vadym Skibitsky says Kyiv is now focused on disrupting wider logistics networks, countering Russia’s missile and drone production, and using strikes and sanctions to pressure the supply chains sustaining Moscow’s war effort.

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/84388

#WarOfAggression #Ukraine #drone #Wartime #KerchBridge #infrastructure #Crimea #occupied #warfare #army #war #Russia #DeepStrike #WarCriminal #invaders #occupiers
#перемогаYкраїни

UN Warns Ukraine Faces Toughest Wartime Winter Yet

In brief: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Alexander De Croo warned in an interview with the BBC that Ukraine could face its most difficult winter since the 2022 invasion due to systematic Russian strikes on civilian and energy infrastructure. De Croo noted that Ukraine enters the heating season from a very weak position, with severe damage to transmission lines, fuel stations, and urban centers raising the risk of widespread heating and water disruptions if temperatures plunge to -20°C.

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/84386

#WarOfAggression #Ukraine #drone #Wartime #Winter #UN #infrastructure #civilian #occupied #warfare #army #war #Russia #DeepStrike #WarCriminal #invaders #occupiers
#перемогаYкраїни

A quotation from Hemingway

I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice, and the expression in vain. We had heard them, sometimes standing in the rain almost out of earshot, so that only the shouted words came through, and had read them, on proclamations that were slapped up by billposters over other proclamations, now for a long time, and I had seen nothing sacred, and the sacrifices were like the stockyards in Chicago if nothing was done with the meat except to bury it.

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American writer
A Farewell to Arms, ch. 27 (1929)

More about this quote: wist.info/hemingway-ernest/859…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #hemingway #farewelltoarms #cause #glory #hackneyed #inspiration #propaganda #sacredness #sacrifice #war #warishell #wartime #waste #worldwari #wwi #ww1

A quotation from Hemingway

I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice, and the expression in vain. We had heard them, sometimes standing in the rain almost out of earshot, so that only the shouted words came through, and had read them, on proclamations that were slapped up by billposters over other proclamations, now for a long time, and I had seen nothing sacred, and the sacrifices were like the stockyards in Chicago if nothing was done with the meat except to bury it.

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American writer
A Farewell to Arms, ch. 27 (1929)

More about this quote: wist.info/hemingway-ernest/859…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #hemingway #farewelltoarms #cause #glory #hackneyed #inspiration #propaganda #sacredness #sacrifice #war #warishell #wartime #waste #worldwari #wwi #ww1

A quotation from Hemingway

I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice, and the expression in vain. We had heard them, sometimes standing in the rain almost out of earshot, so that only the shouted words came through, and had read them, on proclamations that were slapped up by billposters over other proclamations, now for a long time, and I had seen nothing sacred, and the sacrifices were like the stockyards in Chicago if nothing was done with the meat except to bury it.

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American writer
A Farewell to Arms, ch. 27 (1929)

More about this quote: wist.info/hemingway-ernest/859…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #hemingway #farewelltoarms #cause #glory #hackneyed #inspiration #propaganda #sacredness #sacrifice #war #warishell #wartime #waste #worldwari #wwi #ww1

A quotation from Hemingway

I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice, and the expression in vain. We had heard them, sometimes standing in the rain almost out of earshot, so that only the shouted words came through, and had read them, on proclamations that were slapped up by billposters over other proclamations, now for a long time, and I had seen nothing sacred, and the sacrifices were like the stockyards in Chicago if nothing was done with the meat except to bury it.

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American writer
A Farewell to Arms, ch. 27 (1929)

More about this quote: wist.info/hemingway-ernest/859…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #hemingway #farewelltoarms #cause #glory #hackneyed #inspiration #propaganda #sacredness #sacrifice #war #warishell #wartime #waste #worldwari #wwi #ww1

A quotation from Hemingway

I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice, and the expression in vain. We had heard them, sometimes standing in the rain almost out of earshot, so that only the shouted words came through, and had read them, on proclamations that were slapped up by billposters over other proclamations, now for a long time, and I had seen nothing sacred, and the sacrifices were like the stockyards in Chicago if nothing was done with the meat except to bury it.

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American writer
A Farewell to Arms, ch. 27 (1929)

More about this quote: wist.info/hemingway-ernest/859…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #hemingway #farewelltoarms #cause #glory #hackneyed #inspiration #propaganda #sacredness #sacrifice #war #warishell #wartime #waste #worldwari #wwi #ww1

Empty Seat: U.S. Absent as Western Powers Meet on #Wartime Protections for #Civilians

Three years ago, the #DefenseDepartment led an ambitious international effort to better protect civilians during #combat , a movement built on the bloody lessons of #Afghanistan and #Iraq.

The #Pentagon created a network with #European partners, driving the creation of shared standards. Civilian harm experts described the momentas a “unique opportunity” for American #leadership by example.

Today, those efforts continue — without the United States, after Defense Secretary #PeteHegseth dismantled the civilian protection mission.

And Thursday, no U.S. delegation will be in the room when the international forum the U.S. cofounded meets at #NATO headquarters in #Belgium.

https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-hegseth-dod-nato-civilian-harm-reduction-absent

Sunday, August 23, 2026

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/08/sunday-august-23-2026/

Friday, August 21, 2026

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/08/friday-august-21-2026/

Friday, July 24, 2026

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/07/friday-july-24-2026/

Monday, July 20, 2026

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/07/monday-july-20-2026/

Saturday, July 18, 2026

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/07/saturday-july-18-2026/

Thursday, July 16, 2026

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/07/thursday-july-16-2026/

Sunday, April 26, 2026

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/04/sunday-april-26-2026/

Monday, February 9, 2026

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/02/monday-february-9-2026/

Wednesday, February 4, 2026

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/02/wednesday-february-4-2026/

Wednesday, February 4, 2026

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/02/wednesday-february-4-2026/

Wednesday, February 4, 2026

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/02/wednesday-february-4-2026/

Wednesday, February 4, 2026

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/02/wednesday-february-4-2026/

Wednesday, February 4, 2026

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/02/wednesday-february-4-2026/

Monday, October 20, 2025

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2025/10/monday-october-20-2025/

Thursday, October 9, 2025

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2025/10/thursday-october-9-2025/

Sunday, July 27, 2025

Resistance inside Russia is growing: Su-27UB jet set alight in Krasnodar Krai — Ukraine’s F-16 have a new trick to avoid Russian ballistic missiles — After being battered by Ukraine, Russia hopes to ‘strengthen’ Black Sea Fleet — Russia could be ready for ‘confrontation with Europe’ by 2027, Polish prime minister says … and more

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2025/07/sunday-july-27-2025/

Friday, July 18, 2025

Explainer: What Russia could achieve in Ukraine by Trump’s 50-day deadline — Germany to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles very soon — Leaked documents claim Russia’s 41st Army suffered ‘catastrophic’ losses fighting in Ukraine — How Russia modified Iran’s Shahed-136 drones and what it means for Ukraine … and more

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2025/07/friday-july-18-2025/

The thread about a charity shop book that lead to the story of Captain William Thomson Dawson and the loss of the Leith tanker “Peder Bogen”

This thread was originally written and published in April 2023.

I was recently fortunate to acquire this book on the history of the Trinity House in Leith at my favourite charity book shop (St. Columba’s in Canonmills, go visit them!), for a very reasonable price.

It is signed on the inside cover, not by the author as I first thought, but by a “Captain Dawson OBE, the Master of Trinity House”.

The award of the OBE piqued my interest enough to look up our Captain Dawson, and it did not take long to find him: William Thomson Dawson. This is why his signature reads “W. Thomson“. Captain Dawson was a local man, born in Leith in 1910, the son of Margaret Alexander and James Dawson – a merchant navy officer. He was named after his grandfather, a Leith shipmaster. Our Captain Dawson was master of the Leith tanker SS Peder Bogen, a tanker owned by Leith’s Christian Salvesen shipping line. This steam-powered ship was 480 feet long, 62 feet wide and drew 37 feet (146 x 18.9 x 11.2m) with a gross tonnage (a measure of the carrying capacity of a merchant ship) of some 9,700 tons.

The Peder Bogen had been built in the Dutch city of Dordrecht in 1925 for the Norwegian whaling company Johan Rasmussen, being sold to the Salvesen’s whaling subsidiary The South Georgia Company in 1933, along with the base of Stromness on that island. She was a supply ship supporting the Salvesen’s whaling operations and fleet at South Georgia, carrying fuel and goods south and whale oil north, with the seasons.

When war broke out, the Peder Bogen found itself called up for convoy duty, bringing precious fuel oil east across the Atlantic, for which purposes she was given a token armament for self defence. She had made a number of such passages during the first years of the war until on 19th March 1942 she left Port of Spain in Trinidad, heading for Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she would join an eastbound convoy across the Atlantic. On board she had 11,000 tons of fuel oil for the Admiralty 52 crew (including Dawson) and a single passenger, the radio operator of the French tanker SS Melpomene, which had been sunk a few weeks previously en route from Belfast to Baton Rouge.

The journey north proceeded quietly for 4 days, until on the 23rd March she was hit without warning by two torpedoes from the Italian submarine Morosino, about 700 miles northeast of Puerto Rico and 745 miles southeast of Bermuda, in the position 24° 25′ 48″N by 57° 26′ 24″W.

The ship was holed, and with water pouring into her tanks and machinery spaces and the prospect of the 11,000 tons of oil (not to mention the ships own 2,000 tons of fuel) catching fire, Dawson assembled his crew on deck. He ordered the crew to take to the lifeboats, but asked for volunteers to stay aboard and form a skeleton crew to see if there was a chance of saving the tanker and its precious cargo. He and five others remained on the Peder Bogen, relit the boilers, raised steam and began pumping the water out. They fought a losing battle, and when there was 16 feet of water in the engine room had to abandon the fight and join the lifeboats too. The two little boats then retreated a safe distance to await rescue. For the second time in 3 weeks, the unlucky radio operator of the Melpomene found himself abandoning a torpedoed tanker.

Three hours later, the Peder Bogen had still neither sunk nor caught fire, so once again Dawson and his volunteers made the brave decision to board her and try to save her. The Morosini however had been stalking them, and as they made to do this she surfaced just a mile distant and opened fire with her two 4″ deck guns. The Italian’s gunfire was inaccurate, and it took them 40 rounds to score 5 hits, enough to set the tanker on fire and seal her fate.

The crew were all safe however, and spent a rather unhappy night watching the remains of their ship and its cargo on fire. The next day the two lifeboats set a course for the Virgin islands before becoming separated. They were well equipped for their journey, with food, water and survival gear, and the weather was favourable, so their chances were good. After 4 days rowing against the winds, Dawson’s boat was sighted by the “Clyde-built” Spanish ship Gobeo, which took all aboard. The Spaniards were sympathetic to the plight of the British merchant mariners and treated them well. They landed them in Lisbon, Portugal, 3 weeks later. The men of the other boat, carrying the remains of the Peder Bogen’s crew under First Officer Duncan were picked up the following day after becoming separated. The Argentinian ship Rio Gallegos took them to New York, where they landed 4 days later on March 31st.

On April 14th 1942, The Scotsman reported the happy news to Leith that all onboard the ship had been saved. A table at the bottom of this page lists the names, home towns and ranks and roles of all of the men, as reported by the paper.Captain Dawson was awarded the OBE in 1943 for his part, having “showed splendid courage, resource and leadership and made determined efforts to save his ship in circumstances of great difficulty and danger “. Three of the engineering officers were awarded the MBE and two Firemen recieved the BEM.

Dawson was made Master of Trinity House in 1964, a position he held until 1977. His medals, cap and ephemera were sold at auction in December 2022.

The Morosini was lost at sea on August 8th 1942 with all hands, to causes unknown. In a curious twist to the tale, Captain Dawson’s father, Captain James Dawson, was almost certainly the Captain James Dawson of Leith who was master of the steamer Fingal when she was sunk by a torpedo or mine in the North Sea in March 1915. Six of the crew lost their lives that day. James Dawson, father to the 5 year old William, did not abandon his ship until it slipped under the water but survived.

Note to readers: unfortunately in April 2026, a third-party plug-in more than exceeded its authority and broke many of the image links on this site. No images were lost but I will have to restore them page-by-page, which may take some time. In the meantime please bear with me while I go about rectifying this issue.

If you have found this site useful, informative or amusing then you can help contribute towards its running costs by supporting me on ko-fi. This includes my commitment to keeping it 100% advert and AI free for all time coming, and in helping to find further unusual stories to bring you by acquiring books and paying for research.
Or please do just share this post on social media or amongst friends and like-minded people, sites like this thrive on being shared.

Explore Threadinburgh by map:

These threads © 2017-2026, Andy Arthur.

NO AI TRAINING: Any use of the contents of this website to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.