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• British destroyers HMS Decoy and HMS Hereward land 200 more British troops on the Greek island of Kastelorizo in the Dodecanese Islands to reinforce Operation Abstention; as the Italians reinforced the two torpedo boats in the area, Lupo and Lince, with destroyer Crispi, destroyer Sella, and two more torpedo boats, the British decided to cancel Operation Abstention; 40 British commandos were left behind and captured in the hastened retreat. To the north, German troops began to across into Bulgaria. Meanwhile, one squadron of RAF Hurricane fighters and one squadron of RAF Gladiator biplane fighters shot down 27 Italian aircraft over the Albanian mountains in support of Greek troops on the ground. ww2dbase [Balkans Campaign | TH]
• Bread ration was reduced from 350g to 280g in Vichy France. ww2dbase [TH]
• During the night 23 British Hampden aircraft from Waddington, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom attacked battleship Tirpitz at Wilhelmshaven, Germany. Low clouds resulted in only 4 aircraft locating the battleship, and they failed to hit their target. ww2dbase [Tirpitz | CPC]
• Italian forces at Kufra, Libya began surrender negotiations with Free French and British forces. ww2dbase [Battle of Kufra | CPC]
• British liner Anchises, damaged by a German Fw 200 aircraft of I./KG 40 on the previous day, began sinking slowly at 1130 hours. The remaining 33 crew members took to a lifeboat; 12 of them would be killed when the lifeboat was accidentally sucked under corvette HMS Kingcup's bow, which had arrived to rescue them. In the afternoon, German aircraft returned and completed Anchises' sinking with bombs. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-108 sank British ship Effna 200 miles south of Iceland at 2332 hours, killing the entire crew of 33. ww2dbase [CPC]

• The 4,223-ton British merchant steamer Holmelea, owned by Morrison & Son, Cliffside Shipping Co Ltd, was en route from Rosario, Argentina for hull with a cargo of 7,000 tons of grain, linseed and maize when she was attacked by gunfire from German submarine U-47 (Kapitänleutnant Günther Prien) and then sunk by torpedo southwest of Rockall, a granite islet in the North Atlantic. The master, John Robert Potts and 26 crew members were lost from a total crew of 39. ww2dbase [U-47 | HM]
• The 2,088-ton Egyptian steamer Memphis, on a voyage from Manchester, England, United Kingdom to Vigo, Spain, ran into heavy weather off the northwest coast of Ireland. Soon afterwards her engines broke down and she foundered with all on board being lost, which included 29 survivors from the Norwegian motor vessel Benjamin Franklin that had been torpedoed by German submarine U-103. ww2dbase [HM]

• The 534-ton coaster Cabenda, en route to Briton Ferry near Neath, Wales, United Kingdom from Shoreham, England, United Kingdom with a cargo of scrap metal, hit a mine and sank in Swansea Bay. The Chief Engineer was killed in the blast. ww2dbase [Wales | HM]

28 Feb 1941 Interactive Map