[combat] giant issue in weapon reach question

[Ji ji]

Originally Posted by Kuroshima

"When he attacks me, I retreat, and then attack him, and step backwards"

This leads me to a correlated question.
Is it necessary to specify in advance my intention to retreat between the attack and my declared action?

For instance, I take a wait maneuver declaring that, if my enemy will step forward, I'll take an attack maneuver.

My enemy steps forward. If we have the same reach, he attacks me and then I attack him. If I have greater reach, I attack him (possibly taking a step) and then he completes his action, possibly attacking me.
In the first scenario (equal reach) he attacks me before I attack him. My active defense is independent from wait maneuver, so I can defend (and retreat) even if I didn't declare it in advance. Obviously, if this retreat (or a parry with an unbalanced weapon, or so) take me to be unable to make an attack, my maneuver will be partially wasted.

Is it right or did I misunderstand something?