Battle of Endor
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| Battle of Endor | |||||||||||||||||
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| Conflict | Galactic Civil War | ||||||||||||||||
| Date | 4 ABY | ||||||||||||||||
| Place | Endor's forest moon | ||||||||||||||||
| Result | Alliance victory; fragmentation of the Galactic Empire | ||||||||||||||||
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The Battle of Endor was the climactic battle depicted in the 1983 film, Return of the Jedi. In the fictional Star Wars universe, it was the final major engagement of the Galactic Civil War fought by the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire.
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Prelude
The prelude to this battle came when the Alliance learned that Empire was constructing a second version of the 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 the lives of many Bothans, 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 he was still aboard would deliver a massive 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 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.
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 a legion of Imperial Troops standing by on the moon´s surface, he was ready to crush the Rebels once and for all.
The Battle
The 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 naval force, 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 irresistible anti-ship weapon, destroying Rebel ships at will. General Lando Calrissian and Admiral Ackbar closed with the enemy fleet to buy time, but the situation was hopeless. The Rebellion never knew that the station had the capacity to fire its main weapon system far more often and more accurately than ever before.
However, unknown to the Emperor, 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 cunning and ferocity of the Ewoks, the Imperials regained the upper hand and squads of Stormtroopers chased the Ewoks into the forest. Despite being vastly outnumbered by the natives, the Stormtroopers were forcing the Ewoks back into the forest, and Imperial AT-ST scout walkers were decimating Ewok holdouts. 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 units 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 traps that had been set up with hopes of toppling any Imperial walkers. The tactic worked, and together, the traps and the commandeered walker defeated the remaining scout walkers. With the Imperials in disarray, Han Solo posed as an AT-ST pilot, informing Major Hewex (the officer in command) within the bunker, that the battle was over. 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. The Rebels, led by General Solo, proceeded to infiltrate the Imperial facility and managed to destroy the bunker with many well-placed Proton Bombs. The destruction of the facility brought down the Death Star's deflector shield.
Taking advantage of the new tactical situation, a small squadron of fighters and the Millennium Falcon dove into the uncompleted Death Star's superstructure, leading them to the main reactor. Several TIE Fighters and TIE Interceptors swarmed after the Rebels. This threat drove some of the Rebel Fighters to pull back to the surface of the station luring some of the Imperial fighters away from the primary mission; the main reactor. 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 Executor, and with a combined effort a Rebel flotilla of Capital ships her bridge shields were temporarily brought down. This allowed several fighter squadrons to target the Executor's main sensors and its bridge deflector-shield projectors. After A-Wing-squadrons destroyed one of the giant sensor-spheres, Green Leader, after taking critical damage, guided his fighter into the bridge and killed many of the command staff. The crippled ship's engines misfired as a result of the loss of navigation, and the careening vessel collided into the Death Star's surface, destroying 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 rotate its prime weapon towards its target, the Rebel fighters sped towards the main reactor. Jerjerrod responded by flooding the area with interference to hinder the Rebel's progress, and (presumably) issued an evacuation order to non-essential crew.
Meanwhile, the Emperor, who was attempting to corrupt Luke Skywalker with the Dark Side of the Force, was killed by Darth Vader when he rebelled against the Emperor in order to save his son from Palpatine's cruel Force-Lightning barrage. Unfortunately, that final act was one of self-sacrifice, as Vader, reborn again as Anakin Skywalker, free from the evil curse 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 reached the Equatorial Docking Bays. Gold Leader narrowly made it of the superstructure as the fireball ripped through the doomed space station. Demoralized by the loss of the Executor, the Emperor and the Death Star, the majority of the Imperial Fleet retreated deeper into Imperial Space. After the battle's conclusion, the Rebels Command Staff celebrated on the forest moon of Endor in Bright Tree Village, while the remains of the Rebel Fleet screened the space directly above Bright Tree Village to avoid any debris from the Death Star blast from harming that area.
The Fleets
Imperial 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 Star Dreadnought 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 Imperials.
The main Alliance capital ships were Mon Calamari cruisers. The large Home One was Admiral Ackbar´s personal flagship. Other star cruisers included the Liberty, Defiance and the Independence plus many more Mon Calamari warships. Numerous frigates, escort carriers, corvettes, armed merchant cruisers and fireships were also in the Rebel fleet. The advance Rebel fighter forces were split into four ad-hoc fighter wings (Red Squadron, Blue Squadron, Grey Squadron and Gold Squadron), these fighters were to lead the assault on the Death Star's Main Reactor.
Expanded Universe
More 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 advantages of the Star Destroyers should have permitted the Imperial fleet to maintain tactical superiority over their Rebel foes. It is even more curious that the retreat order was widely followed. The battle was thus sealed for the Rebellion. It has been 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.
According to the novelization of Return of the Jedi, Moff Jerjerrod was preparing to destroy 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 executed for war crimes by Rebel authorities.
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 Imperials 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, while he prepared to transmit his master control signal that would cause all droids to turn on their master. When the Death Star core collapsed, all power was lost and the destruction of the station wiped out IG-88A for all time.
As for Rebel losses, they were quite severe. Fewer than 24 fighters survived in a semblance of good condition (many others severely damaged with the majority apparently destroyed). Numerous cruisers were also destroyed, whether by the Death Star's superlaser or in the brutal point-blank engagement with the Imperial capital ships. At some point Admiral Ackbar was apparently forced to transfer his flag from RAS Home One to RAS Independence, probably due to severe battle damage in combat with HIMS Executor.
The disintegration and collapse of the Galactic Empire began shortly after the Battle of Endor as news of the Emperor's death became widespread. As HIM Palpatine deliberately did not plan for succession of rule, numerous Imperial leaders began carving out personal fiefdoms. This decay and collapse 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.
As for the Alliance to Restore the Republic, they would go on to form the New Republic. However, it was an extremely weak government and its rule was quite ineffective. It would collapse during the events of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion.ja:エンドアã®æˆ¦ã„