Operation Abstention | |||||||
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Part of the Battle of the Mediterranean of the Second World War | |||||||
Italian destroyer Francesco Crispi | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
United Kingdom Australia | Italy | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Andrew Cunningham E. de F. Renouf H. J. Egerton |
Luigi Biancheri Francesco Mimbelli | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
2 light cruisers 7 destroyers 1 gunboat 1 submarine 1 armed yacht 200 commandos 200 soldiers and marines |
2 destroyers 2 torpedo boats 2 MAS boats SM.79 bombers SM.81 bombers 280 soldiers 88 marines | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
5 killed 10 wounded 20 captured or interned 7 missing[1] 1 destroyer damaged 1 gunboat damaged |
14 killed 12 captured[2] |
Operation Abstention (25–28 February 1941) was the code name of a British invasion of the Italian island of Kastelorizo (Castellorizo) off the Turkish Aegean coast, during the Second World War. The goal was to establish a motor torpedo-boat base to challenge Italian naval and air supremacy on the Greek Dodecanese islands.[3] The British landings were opposed by Italian land, air and naval forces, which forced the British troops to re-embark amidst some confusion and led to recriminations between the British commanders for underestimating the Italians.