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Battle of Endor
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- This article is about the battle in the film . For the made-for-TV movie, see .
The Battle of Endor is the fictional climactic battle depicted in the 1983 film, . In the fictional Star Wars universe, it was the final engagement of the Galactic Civil War fought by the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire in the movies. The war continued far into the New Republic era, really ending with the Bastion Accords in 19 ABY.
PreludeThe prelude to this battle came when the Alliance learned that Empire was constructing a second Death Star space station (under supervision by Moff Jerjerrod). The Alliance leadership soon discovered that this version had corrected the design flaws in the original Death Star, that the Alliance had exploited in the Battle of Yavin. It was decided that the station would have to be destroyed before it became operational.
With the loss of life of many Bothan spies, the space station was found to be orbiting the forest moon of Endor. In addition, they learned that, although the station was protected by a powerful deflector shield projected from a base on the moon, the station's weapons were 'not yet ready for service'. Furthermore, they also learned that the Emperor himself would personally oversee the final completion of the station. Destroying the station while Palpatine was still aboard would kill him and deliver a crushing blow to the Empire.
With a golden opportunity too good to miss, the Alliance planned a two pronged attack. A commando squad, led by newly appointed General Han Solo, would land on the moon in a stolen Imperial Shuttle and disable the Imperial base's deflector shield projector. This would allow a Rebel fleet to attack the station and destroy it. Meanwhile, the Rebel Fleet massed near the planet of Sullust. Palpatine devised a strategy to maintain a large taskforce close to Endor to provide security and support for the Death Star II, since the majority of the Imperial Fleet was spread out across the galaxy trying to find and engage the Rebels. This was later shown in the battle, as the rebels where caught in a trap while attempting to attack the station.
Unbeknownst to them, the Rebels were falling into a grand trap devised by the Emperor himself. In an attempt to effectively eliminate the Rebel Fleet, Palpatine planned on drawing it and its command personnel to Endor using simple disinformation: he hid the fact that the station's primary systems were already operational (and had dispatched Darth Vader earlier on to ensure that the systems were ready on time). With a large naval force hidden on the far side of the moon and an elite legion, possibly some troops of 501st; Imperial troops standing by on the moon's surface, he was ready to crush the Rebels once and for all.
The BattleThe Rebels took the bait and the trap was sprung with the commandos captured at the moon's base and the Rebel fleet trapped by the Imperial Navy, which was ordered to hold position and prevent the Rebels from escaping. To make things worse, the Death Star's superlaser was already fully operational and was re-designed to be an anti-ship weapon, destroying Rebel cruisers at will. General Lando Calrissian and Admiral Ackbar closed with the imperial fleet to buy time, but the situation was dire all the same. The Rebellion's frightening discovery that the station had the capacity to fire its main weapon system far more often and more accurately than ever before put them on the back foot, and it was all but inevitable that the Death Star would annihilate the entire fleet if given the time. The only alternative for the Alliance was to directly engage the fleet of Imperial Star Destroyers in close-quarters. This point-blank range tactic proved to be very costly (many ships were destroyed this way), with Mon Calamari Cruisers turning out to be a good match for the Star Destroyers. By engaging the Imperial Fleet in this manner, the Rebels now had an opportunity to fight and cause damage while remaining more or less shielded by the proximity of both fleets, disallowing the Death Star to fire for fear of destroying Imperial vessels. Despite the numerical advantage of the Imperial Fleet, the Rebels were able to cause considerable damage as both fleets merged and engaged. The Imperial tactic of swarming the enemy starfighters with TIE Fighter's proved ineffective; Rebel starfighters were shielded and their pilots somewhat better trained. Imperial pilots were trained and used to fighting in strict battle lines - a condition that disappeared with this tactical move. Although there were a few of the Imperial Navy's finest ace fighter pilots who served during the battle, one of the most noteworthy being Alach Stilar, who shot down 17 rebel starfighters, and made several straffing runs in his custom inteceptor at small rebel gunships, frigates, and he even straffed the rebel command ship Independence, and Home One.
Unknown to the Emperor, however, the Rebel commandos had made an alliance with the indigenous Ewok tribe on the moon. Their warriors ambushed the Imperial stormtroopers soon after the Imperials had captured the Rebel commandos. Although initially surprised by the ambush made by the Ewoks, the Imperials regained the upper hand and squads of stormtroopers began utilizing cover and anti-guerilla tactics to confuse and destroy the enemy. Despite being "vastly" outnumbered by the natives, the stormtrooper legion forced the Ewoks to retreat deeper into the forest, as Imperial AT-ST scout walkers decimated Ewok holdouts and defenses. However, a squad of Ewoks led by Chewbacca managed to capture one of these walkers, and the tide of the battle began to turn as Chewbacca used this AT-ST to take out isolated Imperial troops as well as other Imperial walkers. The sight of this, rallied the remaining Ewoks, who had been retreating into the woods, and they doubled their efforts behind the stolen AT-ST. This allowed the Ewoks to spring a number of primitive, though incredibly effective, traps that had been set up by toppling all Imperial walkers. The tactic worked, and together, the traps and the commandeered walker defeated the remaining scout walkers. Initially unable to get inside the bunker to destroy the shield generator, as a result of a lockdown to prevent entry, Han Solo posed as an AT-ST pilot, informing the Imperials staff within the bunker, that the battle was almost over and the rebels were in full retreat. The main door was opened and three squads of reinforcements were sent to help search for the rebels. The Rebels, however, were waiting, and the Imperial reinforcements, sorely outnumbered and under the guns of an AT-ST, surrendered to the Rebel/Ewok force and were taken prisoner. With the main door now opened due to Solo's trickery, the Rebels proceeded to infiltrate the Imperial facility and destroy the bunker with many Proton charges. The destruction of the facility brought down the Death Star's deflector shield.
Taking advantage of the situation, 6 Rebel fighters engaged the Death Star. 2 X-wings, 2 A-wings, 1 Y-wing and the Millennium Falcon dove into the uncompleted Death Star's superstructure leading to the main reactor. Hoping to give more assistance to Home One as well as distract the pursuing Imperials, Lando ordered the rebel starfighters to split up and head back to the surface. One of the A-Wings and the other X-Wing led two Interceptors away, but the X_Wing was destroyed as soon as it emerged from the superstructure. In order to dissuade more Imperials from swarming the Rebel fighters within the Death Star's superstructure, Ackbar ordered a concentrated assault on the Imperial flagship, the H.I.M.S. Executor, forcing the Imperial fleet to rally fighters to defend her, having taken considerble damage. With the combined effort of the remaining starfighters, her bridge shield-generators were destroyed. Green Leader, after taking critical damage, rammed his fighter into the unshielded bridge and killed much of the command staff (including Admiral Piett). The ship's engines misfired as a result of the destruction of the computers in the command center, and the careening vessel was pulled in by the Death Star's gravity and collided into the Death Star's surface before the ship's crew could re-establish helm control in the auxiliary bridge, destroying the Executor and all her crew as well as causing some damage to the Death Star's surface. Meanwhile, Moff Jerjerrod had orders from the Emperor to destroy the forest moon should the Rebels manage to deactivate the shield. As the Death Star began to orbit its primary weapon towards its target, the Rebel fighters sped towards the main reactor. Jerjerrod responded by flooding the area with interference to hinder the Rebels' progress, and issued an evacuation order to non-essential crew, troops, command personnel and civilian contractors working in the construction aboard the station.
Meanwhile, the Emperor, who was attempting to turn the young would-be Jedi Knight, Luke Skywalker, with the Dark Side of the Force, was killed by Darth Vader when he turned against the Emperor in order to save his son from Sidious' Force-lightning barrage. Unfortunately, that final act was one of self-sacrifice as well as fulfilling the prophecy of the Chosen One, as Vader, reborn again as Anakin Skywalker, free from the Dark Side that had consumed him throughout the Galactic Civil War, died in the arms of his son before he could board his shuttle. All the while Lando Calrissian and Wedge Antilles were approaching the main reactor. Using concussion missiles and proton torpedoes, they detonated the Death Star's power regulator, and the main reactor itself, causing a massive explosion which led to a chain reaction that destroyed the station. Luke was able to escape in Vader's shuttle just before the explosion. Gold Leader narrowly made it out of the superstructure as the fireball ripped through the exploding space station. After the battle's conclusion, the Rebels command staff celebrated on the forest moon of Endor in Bright Tree Village.
The FleetsImperial forces at Endor consisted of an augmented Sector Group containing at least thirty-four Imperator-class Star Destroyers, at least one Tector-class Star Destroyer, one Executor-class Super Star Destroyer and one communications cruiser. There was extensive fighter support from the Imperial fleet and possibly from the Death Star II itself. This fighter support consisted of several Imperial TIE Fighter Wings, a majority consisting of TIE Interceptors, scattered in small squads. There were also many pilots aboard the Death Star who served as reserve units should the battle turn against the Empire.
The main Alliance capital ships were Mon Calamari warships. The large Home One was Admiral Ackbar's personal flagship. Other star cruisers included the Liberty, Defiance, plus many more Mon Calamari warships. Numerous frigates, escort carriers, corvettes, at least 1 Braha'tok-class gunship, armed merchant cruisers and fireships were also in the Rebel fleet. The advance Rebel fighter forces were split into 5 ad-hoc fighter wings (Red Squadron, Green Squadron, Blue Squadron, Grey Squadron and Gold Squadron), these fighters were to lead the assault on the Death Star's Main Reactor and others engaged the Executor. Despite the now widespread introduction of the advanced A-wing, B-wing and X-wing fighters, the Y-wing was still the primary workhorse of the battle.
Expanded UniverseMore details of the battle were revealed in Expanded Universe literature. It was revealed that Grand Admiral Teshik had escaped the destruction of the Death Star. After the destruction of HIMS Executor, command should have properly passed from Admiral Piett to him. Gilad Pellaeon, senior surviving officer of HIMS Chimaera inexplicably ordered an illegal retreat from Endor. This action is most curious: despite the loss of HIMS Executor, the numerical and qualitative properties of the Star Destroyers should have permitted the Imperial fleet to maintain their presence and possibly even turn the battle against their Rebel foes. It is possible that the Imperial's had lost more ships by the time Pellaeon ordered the retreat. It is even more curious that the retreat order was widely followed. The battle was won by the Rebellion. Grand Admiral Thrawn later theorized that with the death of Emperor Palpatine, the battle meditation he exercised on his troops through the Force was removed and the Imperial Navy's fighting ability was dramatically reduced, allowing the Rebel fleet to scatter them. Thrawn was correct that the Death Star's destruction and the withdrawal of battle meditation had a dramatic effect on the Imperial Fleet's effectiveness, though he was mistaken as to the meditator's identity- battle meditation is a rare talent, which Palpatine did not possess, but Grand Admiral Nial Declann did. Declann's concentration was broken when he sensed the Emperor's death. He went to the Throne room and searched the room completely, the emperor was killed in the reactor shaft moments before. Grand Admiral Declann died shortly thereafter when the Death Star was destroyed.
According to the novelization of Return of the Jedi, Moff Jerjerrod was preparing to destroy the moon of Endor when the fighters reached the reactor. This is possible as, in the movie, the superlaser flashes before the station explodes (indicating a malfunction) and the Death Star appeared to have been re-positioned toward the planet.
Teshik did not retreat with the rest of the Imperial squadron and fought on for several more hours until his flagship, HIMS Eleemosynary, was captured. He was later tried and executed by the Rebel Alliance for reasons unknown.
Had the Rebels failed at destroying the station, the results would have been far worse than they thought. In the years beforehand, the assassin droid IG-88 was preparing to launch a droid revolution. The last surviving model, IG-88A, built a duplicate of the Death Star's computer core and switched his fake one for the real system, downloading his consciousness as well. When the Imperial technicians installed the core, IG-88A literally became the Death Star, with complete access and control to all systems. None of the Imperial personnel knew, although Palpatine suspected his presence when a series of doors in his throne room opened and closed wildly. When the Rebels arrived, IG-88A fired the superlaser at the Rebel fleet, letting the Imperials believe they were in control (and even making adjustments to make it more accurate), while he prepared to transmit his master control signal that would cause all droids to turn on their master. After having finished off the Rebel fleet, IG-88A planned to turn the superlaser on the Star Destroyers. Before the assassin droid could do so, the Super Star Destoyer Executor was losing control and on course to crash into the space station. IG-88 notice but did not seriously consider the threat of the Millennium Falcon and X-Wing heading towards the reactor. When the Death Star core collapsed, all power was lost and the destruction of the station wiped out IG-88A.
Rebel losses were heavy, they had lost at least capital ships to the Death Star and several others destroyed or damaged by the battle with the Star Destroyers. The Imperial fleet however suffered many more losses to fighters and capital ships, possibly because the Imperial tactic is usually to engage in rather strict battle lines. Close-quarters combat as seen during the battle would probably have been an enormous surprise to them. The rebel fighters proved vastly superior in terms of pilot capability as well as the technology in the fighters themselves, primarily shields. The Imperial swarming technique was "ineffective" and an enormous amount of TIE fighters were destroyed this way. Curiously, no TIE Bombers were deployed, as they carried concussion missiles or proton torpedoes which could do considerable damage to Rebel warships.
The Devastator was destroyed, according to Star Wars Sourcebook: Essential History, while the Ajudicator and Accuser were captured and pressed into Rebel service as Liberator and Emanciapator. This tally of losses concurs with Heir to the Empire where Gilad Pellaeon recalled that several other star destroyers were lost besides the Executor. According to the novellization of ROTJ, the Rebels were even involved in suicidal attacks, with a fatally damaged Rebel cruiser taking down a Destoyer with it. Wedge Antilles himself helped to finish off the Star Destroyer which was serving as the communications ship; the Imperial vessel was crippled while winning a duel against a Rebel cruiser. In the movie, shortly before the Executor's shield generator is destroyed, a Destroyer is seen dueling with a Cruiser before its destruction.
The disintegration of the Galactic Empire began shortly after the Battle of Endor as news of the Emperor's death became widespread. As Palpatine deliberately did not plan for succession of rule, numerous Imperial leaders began carving out personal fiefdoms. This decay accelerated approximately six years after Endor during the events surrounding the clone Palpatine and his eventual defeat. Years later, the small (and mostly ignored) Imperial Remnant signed a peace treaty, officially ending the Galactic Civil War.
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