The fall of Khartoum and the massacre of all within led to various communiques between Wolseley and London. Indicative of the confusion, on 7 February 1885, three days before the battle of Kirbekan, Wolseley was told by London to make no retrograde steps down the Nile to Egypt. Wolseley himself, however, was concerned that with the fall of Khartoum, he lacked sufficient military force to subdue the Mahdi. This led to consideration of an operational pause, to last several months over the Sudan summer, which might allow fresh British reinforcements to be assembled in Egypt and later sent up the river to Wolseley.