When I arrived at Reata Mountain at six in the morning the great quantity of booty was being collected. Very great confusion had occurred in the close-quarter fighting by night. English dead, who were lying in the bush far in rear of the front of Kraut’s Detachment, proved that certain detachments of the enemy had got behind our line. Individual snipers, hidden away among the rocks, maintained a well-aimed fire, and could not be dislodged. It was, however, clear that the enemy had been repulsed with heavy casualties. Both our own wounded and those of the enemy were got away without a hitch, and so were the prisoners. With the detachments that were moving from the vicinity of Himo through the dense bush to the Kahe-Reata road we had no communication, and could expect to have none for several hours more.
In this situation it was regrettable that I had ordered the troops forming our left wing, who had been posted between Kitovo and Himo, to withdraw to the Kahe-Reata road. After giving up the high ground held by our left wing the Reata position would in time become untenable, the more so as it had no supply of water, which had to be brought up from a place an hour’s march further back. It was impossible to turn back the units of the left wing to reoccupy the Himo-Kitovo area, as we were at the moment completely out of touch with them, and, as has been mentioned, there was no expectation of regaining it for hours to come. I decided to evacuate the Reata position, and after the battlefield was cleared I returned with the line that was nearest to the enemy to the water south-west of Reata Mountain. In the course of the day the other detachments reached the Kahe-Reata road at different points further to the rear and encamped.
Headquarters moved to New Steglitz Plantation. The buildings are situated half-way between Kahe and Reata, on a slight elevation affording a distant view over the forest, which is particularly dense along the Kahe-Reata road. On the way I met Captain Schoenfeld, who reported that he had mounted his 4-inch gun out of the _Königsberg_ near Kahe village on the south bank of the Pangani. After our withdrawal the enemy occupied Reata Mountain and for a while fired into the blue with light guns and rifles.