Operation Abstention

Unit Force

• Two-hundred men from No. 50 Commando.
• Twenty-four-man detachment of Royal Marines.
• One company of The Sherwood Foresters, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment
• Destroyers H.M.S. Decoy, H.M.S. Hereward, H.M.S. Nubian, H.M.S. Hasty, H.M.S. Hero and H.M.S. Jaguar.
• Gunboat H.M.S. Ladybird.
• Armed yacht H.M.S. Rosaura.
• Light cruisers H.M.A.S. Perth and H.M.S. Bonaventure.
• Submarine H.M.S. Parthian.

Opposing Forces

• Original garrison: Thirty soldiers of the signal corps, ten carabinieri and Guardia di Finanza.
• Landing force: 240 infantry and eighty-eight marines.
• Destroyers Francesco Crispi and Quintino Sella.
• Torpedo boats: Lupo and Lince.
• Motoscafo Armato Silurante: MAS 541 and MAS-546.

Operation

Operation Abstention is the code name given to a British invasion of the Italian occupied island of Kastelorizo off the Turkish Aegean coast, in late February 1941. The goal is to establish a motor torpedo-boat base to challenge Italian naval and air supremacy in the Greek Dodecanese islands.

Kastellorizo, officially known as Megisti, is a Greek island and municipality of the Dodecanese in the Eastern Mediterranean. It is situated roughly 2 kilometres off the south coast of Turkey, about 570 kilometres southeast of Athens and kilometres, east of Rhodes. Kastellorizo is part of the Rhodes regional unit.

February 23rd, 1941

In Suda Bay, Crete, two hundred Commandos from No. 50 Commando embark on the destroyers H.M.S. Decoy and H.M.S. Hereward. 24 Royal Marines do the same on the gunboat H.M.S. Ladybird. The ships head for the Greek Island of Kastellorizo.

February 24th, 1941

The follow up force, a company of 1^st Battalion, Sherwood Foresters, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment boards the armed yacht H.M.S. Rosaura, escorted by the light cruisers H.M.A.S. Perth and H.M.S. Bonaventure, in Famagusta, Cyprus and also heads for Kastellorizo. The Sherwood Foresters have prepared themselves for secret operations. The company commander is unaware of the mission’s destination.

The submarine H.M.S. Parthian, reconnoitres the landing points and then acts as a beacon for the incoming ships.

February 25th, 1941

The landing starts at 02:00 when one part of the Commandos lands from ten whaleboats on Nifti Point, south of the settlement, while the Royal Marines occupy the harbour. The Italian garrison on Kastelorizo consists of thirty-five soldiers and agents of the Guardia di Finanza in charge of a wireless station. The commandos ambush an Italian patrol on the truck between Nifti Point and the harbour, killing two soldiers and wounding one. The British then surprise the garrison, seizing the radio outpost and inflicting thirteen casualties, including twelve prisoners. Meanwhile the remaining Commandos land from the British destroyers H.M.S. Decoy and H.M.S. Hereward into the harbour. Before being overrun, the Italians manage to send a message to Rhodes, where the main Italian air and naval base in the Dodecanese is based. 

Ammiraglio di Divisione Luigi Biancheri, commander of the Italian naval forces in the Aegean Sea reacts immediately. Between 08:00 to 09:30 a contingent of Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero and Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 Pipistrello Aircraft of the Regia Aeronautica attack the harbour castle and the main hills of the island, where the commandos have dug themselves in. H.M.S. Ladybird is struck by a bomb and three sailors are wounded. Short of fuel, H.M.S. Ladybird re-embarks the Royal Marines and heads for Haifa, Palestine.

February 26th, 1941

The Regia Marina counterattacks just after sunset. Two torpedo boats Lupo and Lince land a Reconnaissance Force of 240 men comprising of soldiers from the 50ª Divisione di fanteria “Regina”. The men spend several hours conducting reconnaissance to assess the composition and deployment of British forces while also executing several hit-and-run attacks.

After landing the troops, the two torpedo boats Move into position to use their 99 millimetres cannons to bombard the British positions at the docks and the Governor’s palace. During this bombardment three Commandos are killed and seven wounded.

After approximately five hours, the raider party re-embarks onto their waiting vessels. The Italian ships evacuate several Italian civilians who have gathered at the harbour after learning of their presence in the port.

The British convoy carrying the follow up Force receives reports from Kastellorizo of Italian naval activity north of the harbour. Upon receiving this warning, British Rear Admiral Renouf, overseeing the operation firsthand, cancels the scheduled landing. Possibly uncertain about the actual size or composition of the Italian force, Admiral Renouf fears for the vulnerability of the small vessel Rosaura and the troops she carries.

He orders the convoy to turn around and head back to Alexandria to transfer the troops onto larger and more heavily armed destroyers for a second attempt the next day. These landings are now being carried out by the destroyers H.M.S. Decoy and H.M.S. Hero, after embarking the Sherwood Foresters company from H.M.S. Rosaura. Simultaneously, Renouf orders the destroyer H.M.S. Hereward, which had initially sailed away from the island upon first reports of enemy naval activity, to proceed ahead and engage the reported Italian forces. The H.M.S. Hereward is unable to locate the Italian torpedo boats and returns empty-handed.

February 27th, 1941

Admiral Renouf is ill and replaced by Captain Egerton, commander of H.M.S. Bonaventure, complicating matters.

After being delayed by high seas, the two Italian Torpedo Boats Lupo, Lince, and two Motoscafo Armato Silurante MAS 546 and MAS 561, land 340 men, most of them from the IV Battalion, 9^th Infantry Regiment of the 50ª Divisione di fanteria “Regina” during the morning. The force includes about two dozen men from an anti-tank platoon with two 47-millemetres guns, and a mortar platoon equipped with a pair of 81mm mortars. The fresh Italian forces attack the exhausted and isolated British Commandos, who are equipped only for a 24-hour operation. The Italian forces are supported later that day by the destroyers Francesco Crispi and Quintino Sella who land a total of 258 troops and eighty marines. As the Italians attack, the commandos retreat to their encampment at the landing beach near Nifti point, under fire from the Italian Torpedo Boat Lupo. One company remains in the area of the local cemetery.

February 28th, 1941

Reaching the island of Kastellorizo again during the night, the British naval force begins landing the company. The Foresters finds the landing point abandoned by the commandos, along with scattered equipment, ammunition, a dead soldier, and two stragglers who inform them of the Italian counterattack. Major Cooper of the Sherwood Foresters, heads back to the H.M.S. Decoy, concludes after talks with other commanders that the lack of naval and air support makes withdrawal inevitable.

When they finally encounter the bulk of the Commandos, they are confirmed that the Italians have gained firm control of the island again. With instructions to leave by 04:30 the next day, the company commander has no chance to retake the island and orders the withdrawal of his force. The bulk of the landing party, isolated on a small plateau at the east end of Kastellorizo, is re-embarked by 03:00.

Several British commandos, either cut off during the fighting or left behind during the evacuation, are captured by the Italians. Additionally, over two dozen local residents are arrested and later convicted of aiding the enemy, subsequently sent to Brindisi, Italy, to serve their sentences.

Meanwhile, the Italians position their MAS launches inside Megisti harbour to guard the newly recaptured harbour, anticipating a potential British attempt to force entry and land more troops.

March 1st, 1941

Early in the morning, the British destroyer H.M.S. Jaguar approaches the mouth of Megisti harbour with torpedoes armed.

However, H.M.S. Jaguar is not attempting to land more troops but rather to execute a hit-and-run attack on the Italians before withdrawing. The H.M.S. Jaguar fires all four torpedoes from the mouth of the harbor and retreats. All torpedoes miss the nimble MAS boats and strike the shore harmlessly.

The Italian destroyer Crispi patrols south of the island after previously firing at least 20 rounds into British-held areas of Kastellorizo. In the early morning darkness, the lookout on Crispi spots two contacts, one identified as a cruiser. The crew of Crispi fires two torpedoes at the nearest target, both of which miss. Believing it is outnumbered and outgunned against a cruiser, Crispi attempts to slip away before a retaliatory strike. However, the H.M.S. Jaguar illuminates Crispi with a searchlight.

Despite H.M.S. Jaguar lighting up the Italian ship, Crispi fires first. Her guns miss, and Jaguar responds in kind, also missing. The two destroyers, in close proximity, open fire with their machine guns, raking each other with bullets. The Italians manage to destroy H.M.S. Jaguar’s searchlight with a 40 millimetres grenade, plunging both vessels into darkness again. The Crispi, having initially sighted two enemy vessels, uses this opportunity to escape into the obscurity. With this action, the battle for Castellorizo comes to an end.

The hit on the searchlight makes the gunfire of the H.M.S. Jaguar ineffective, The ship rejoins the convoy. The destroyers H.M.S. Nubian, H.M.S. Hasty, and H.M.S. Jaguar sweep the area between Rhodes and Kastellorizo after detecting radar contact and wireless traffic in the area but fail to intercept the Italian ships as they return to the base in Alexandria.

Aftermath

The British suffer five men killed, eleven wounded, twenty captured and ten missing, one British destroyer and one gunboat are damaged, while the Italians incur losses of fourteen men killed, eleven wounded, and twelve captured.

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