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• German bombers attacked HMS Tartar and HMS Mashona 100 miles west of Ireland in the morning, killing 36 men as a bomb hit Mashona. HMS Tartar rescued 184 survivors and destroyers HMS Sherwood and HMCS St. Clair scuttled Mashona with gunfire. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-107 sank Greek ship Papalemos in the Atlantic Ocean off Sierra Leone, British West Africa at 1600 hours; 2 were killed and 27 survived. ww2dbase [CPC]

• The evacuation of British and Commonwealth troops from Crete, Greece began before dawn; the evacuation centered around Sphakia on the southern coast of Crete, while Colonel Laycock commanded a rearguard force to guard the evacuation. British cruisers HMS Ajax, HMS Orion, and HMS Dido and destroyers HMS Decoy, HMS Jackal, HMS Imperial, HMS Hotspur, HMS Kimberly, and HMS Hereward departed Alexandria, Egypt for Heraklion, Crete to help with the evacuation; German aircraft damaged HMS Ajax (killing 6, wounding 18, and forcing her to turn back) and HMS Imperial (wounding 1); the force, less Ajax, arrived at Heraklion at 2330 hours. ww2dbase [Balkans Campaign | Sphakia, Crete | TH]

• Indian 20th Brigade, en route to Baghdad in Iraq, reached the ruins of the ancient city of Ur near Tell el-Muqayyar. ww2dbase [Campaigns in the Middle East | Tell el-Muqayyar | CPC]

• British General Archibald Wavell ordered Operation Battleaxe against Axis positions in Libya; it was to be launched on 7 Jun. ww2dbase [Operation Battleaxe | CPC]

• South African Prime Minister Jan Smuts was appointed as a Field Marshal in the British Army. He was the first South African to hold the rank. ww2dbase [Jan Smuts | AC]

• British Lord Woolton announced experimental egg rationing and further restrictions on fish and milk. ww2dbase [CPC]
• In the United Kingdom, successful prosecutions under Food Control Orders now totaled 17,319. ww2dbase [CPC]

28 May 1941 Interactive Map