Hering’s battery arrived during the early morning hours and his guns began firing from Tanga at the British ships. The 15. F. K. also arrived with Abteilung Pangani. Von Lettow-Vorbeck reorganized his troops into two Abteilung to meet the expected next British assault. The patrols that he sent out came into contact with British patrols at dawn. Firefights erupted along the British and German lines and caused a panic among the British refugees, disrupting the rear areas. At 11 a.m., the Hering Batterie opened fire again on the British transports. The Laisang was set on fire by the shelling from the Hering Batterie and withdrew from its anchorage. The Fox returned fire with two shells. The Germans quit firing after the explosions. A sudden rainstorm obscured fire and flooded the shallow trenches of the Germans and British. The Bharata was re-positioned opposite Beach “A” at 7 a.m., probably to take the place of the Laisang. The Fox was re-positioned near the jetty at about the same time. The Fox was close enough to the shore to exchange rifle and machine gun fire with the German askari. When the Germans opened fire on the transports at 11a.m., the Fox fired three shells in reply and believed that it had scored a direct hit on one of the German guns because the German fire ceased again. By 1 p.m. the tide was high enough for the thirty assembled ship’s boats to begin the first transfers to the lighters and tugs that had been located as close as possible to the reefs off Beach “A”. The order of re-embarkation took off the 2,000 porters first. These were followed by the 61 KGO, followed by the 63 PLI, and then by the 98th. After these troops had been transferred, the 101st was embarked, followed by the 13 Rajput. These troops completed their re-embarkation by 3 p.m. without the Germans being aware of the transfers. The 2nd Kashmir Rifles and 2/LNL were transferred at 3 p.m., and the British completed re-embarking by 4 p.m., successfully extricating 6,200 men. During this time, however, the British were forced to attempt to destroy supplies and ammunition that had been stacked on the beaches in anticipation of victory. The 2/LNL carried away their machine guns, but eight machine guns were left on the beaches with 123 British and Indian wounded at Beach “A”. Oberstleutnant von Lettow-Vorbeck gave orders to all of his commanders to withdraw inland during the afternoon. That might explain why the Germans were oblivious to the British withdrawal. He thought that a defense would be easier where the climate was less trying. While the Germans were in the midst of completing this withdrawal, Captain Meinertzhagen appeared under a white flag and met with Hauptmann Freiherr von Hammerstein to arrange for the removal of the British wounded. Von Lettow-Vorbeck immediately reversed his orders to evacuate Tanga and agreed to an informal 24 hour truce. On the abandoned beaches, the Germans discovered eight machine guns, 455 rifles, a half a million rounds of rifle and machine gun ammunition, and 30 field telephones not destroyed by the hastily retreating British. The capture of these munitions was enough to equip three field companies with modern weapons, which only contributed to the continuance of the war. The End Game On 6 November, the Barjora, minus the Logan Battery and flying the red-cross flag, collected eight officers and sixty-six men. This left forty-nine wounded still on the beach. Von Lettow-Vorbeck notified General Aitken verbally that any transports in sight on 7 November would be fired upon. General Aitken abandoned the wounded and on 8 November, the British expedition arrived in the Mombasa harbor. The battle had been a close-run contest with both sides struggling against the odds. The Germans were outnumbered but had a superiority of machine guns, better leadership, and an adequate supply system. The British deployed a large percentage of troops unsuited to the task required of them on a hostile shore, supported by a supply system that was totally inadequate. The British enjoyed a superiority of artillery support and the advantage of sheer numbers. It was only by the exploitation of chance events that the Germans ended as the victors. Schutztruppe Deutsch Ostafrika The Battle of Tanga, November 1914 Background Preliminaries Tanga Preparation for Battle The Battle: Nov. 4, 1914 Denouement: Nov. 5-6, 1914 Tabletop Tanga: Wargaming the Battle Back to Table of Contents -- Courier #86 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2003 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com