In allotting the various duties it was necessary to consider the peculiarities of the different units. At that time each company had different characteristics, according to its composition and its state of training. The good 6th Field Company, which had in time of peace received a careful training at Ujiji with both rifle and machine-gun, was ordered to hold the eastern edge of Tanga on a broad front. On its right rear, outside Tanga, was echeloned Baumstark’s battalion, consisting of the 16th and 17th Companies, formed from the Police, and several small units amalgamated into one company. To the right rear again, on the telegraph-road Tanga-Pangani, I kept three good companies at my own disposal, the 7th and 8th Rifle Companies, with three machine-guns, composed of Europeans, and the 13th Field Company with its four machine-guns. Headquarters remained for the present on the Tanga-Pangani road and connected up to the telegraph line there. The 4th and 9th Field Companies and the two field guns (Captain Hering’s Battery) were still on the way, and the time of their arrival was uncertain. So the situation remained essentially until the afternoon. In the hot sun of the Coast area we suffered not a little from thirst, but quenched it with the milk of the young cocoanuts. There were other drinks as well in Tanga at that time; we still had wine and soda-water. Master-butcher Grabow even brought the troops hot sausages. The proceedings on board the hostile ships were kept under constant close observation. We saw every boat that left them, and its load. I estimated the total troops landed up to midday at 6,000. But even on this too low estimate I had to ask myself whether I dared risk a decisive engagement with my thousand rifles. For various reasons I decided that I would do so. It was too important to prevent the enemy from gaining a firm footing in Tanga. Otherwise we should abandon to him the best base for operations against the Northern territories; in his advance the Northern Railway would afford him an admirable line of communication, and he would be enabled continually to surprise us by bringing up and pushing forward fresh troops and stores. Then it was certain that we would be unable to hold the Northern Railway any longer and that we would be obliged to abandon our hitherto so successful method of warfare. Against these all-important practical reasons, limited considerations such as the Governor’s order to avoid a bombardment of Tanga under all circumstances could not prevail.