Lettow-Vorbeck's men captured weapons, medical supplies, tents, blankets, rations and several Maxim guns after the battle, which played a major role in allowing his troops to resist the Allies for the rest of the world conflict.

An agreement was in place guaranteeing the neutrality of the capital Dar es Salaam and Tanga, but now the accord was modified and it seemed "only fair to warn the Germans that the deal was off.

The ship's commander, Captain Francis Wade Caulfeild, went ashore giving Tanga one hour to surrender and take down the flag of the German Empire.

During the sweeping, the Force "B" commander, Aitken, began the unopposed landing of troops and supplies in two groups at the harbour and three miles east of the city on a mine-free beach.

The fighting then turned to skirmishing amidst the coconut and palm oil plantations by the southern contingent and bitter street-fighting by the harbour force.

The Kashmir Rifles and the 2nd Loyal North Lancashire Regiment of the harbour contingent made good progress; they entered the town, captured the customs house and Hotel Deutscher Kaiser and ran up the Union Jack.

[11] British propaganda transformed the bee interlude into a fiendish German plot, conjuring up hidden trip wires to agitate the hives.

By late afternoon on 4 November, Lettow-Vorbeck ordered his last reserves, the 13th and 4th Askari Feldkompanien (field companies) – the 4th had just reached Tanga by train), to envelop the British flank and rear by launching bayonet attacks along the entire front to "bugle calls and piercing tribal war cries."

Through a series of errors by the buglers and misunderstandings by an officer to disengage and consolidate, the Askari withdrew to a camp several miles west of Tanga.

[16] On the morning of 5 November, Force B's intelligence officer—Captain Richard Meinertzhagen—entered Tanga under a white flag, bringing medical supplies and carrying a letter from General Aitken apologizing for shelling the hospital.