After the Battle of Salaita, General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, commander of German forces in East Africa, reorganised the defences to the north of the colony in anticipation of another assault.

The Salaita positions were abandoned, and German forces moved south to the Latema-Reata Hills – which stood on the route to Kahe.

It was impossible for any diversionary flanking attack to take place due to the denseness of the terrain to the sides of the battlefield, especially to the south – which was covered by a swamp.

Before they could reach the enemy positions, however, the British were forced back by heavy rifle, machine gun and small-calibre artillery fire.

The assaulting forces once again failed to reach their objective, suffering casualties which included the commander of the King's African Rifles, Lieutenant-Colonel B.R.

[2] A few isolated pockets of attackers reached the top during the gathering darkness, but were also eventually forced to retreat by German counter-attacks.

The third and final wave set off at 9:15pm and straight away faced the same problems as the earlier attempts to take the Nek, compounded by the lack of light.

In the confusion of the darkness, large numbers of men became lost – they retreated back to their starting positions to join the 1st East African Brigade in reserve.