The Decimation of the Rebel Fleet at Mako-Ta was a massive setback to the operation plans of the
Rebel Alliance, on par with the Imperial setback of the destruction of the Death Star. From now on
they could no longer go on the offensive and with Vader’s main goal reached he unleashed his forces
across the galaxy. Welcome to the Wizards and Warriors channel! We are glad to have you with
us for our next story from the Star Wars universe and the next installment in the Galactic Civil
War series. So please get comfortable, put your favorite cantina music on and check for Wampa’s
under your bed as we begin our retelling of the long campaign that would come to be known
as the Mid Rim Retreat and the next decisive battle of the war on the cold plains of Hoth.
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After the disastrous ambush at Mako-Ta, Mon Mothma ordered the Rebel Alliance to once again
go back to the “separate fight” strategy they had used before the Battle of Yavin.
This meant the cancellation of all Rebel Offensives: a defensive stance once again
was taken and minor guerilla-style operations were the order of the day. While on paper this seemed
to be easy, the reality of it was much different as the largest campaign, that of the one within
the Mid Rim, had been going on for 9 months and this new order turned everything around.
The early accounts of the Rebel offensive are lost to us, as is much of the retreat and actions taken
during the remaining months of 2 ABY, but from what we do know this was a colossal undertaking.
Not only did the Rebel Alliance bring thousands of spacecraft and material to bear,
but as they pushed forward and liberated worlds they also fortified them and were
connected with the independent native rebel cells helping to establish governments on the
planets and supplying them making any withdrawal a long and arduous process.
To this end, they ordered a number of battle companies to screen their retreat
as the fleet withdrew from the Mid Rim, accompanied begrudgingly by some of the
Native rebels with many instead remaining. The one we know the most about in this campaign,
and the one we’ll be following, is the 61st Mobile Infantry under Captain Micha Evon which formed
both the Vanguard in the offensive stage and would be the rear guard in the retreat. They are better
known by their second name, Twilight Company. Battle companies, such as Twilight Company, were
not your standard Infantry unit. Being designated as “Mobile” they were used as infiltrators and
were equipped as such, having a number of fast corvettes to move them from planet to planet,
making any attempt to take a system from them a time-consuming task. Twilight company was equipped
with 1 CR90 Corvette known as “Thunderstrike”, which served as their HQ, 1 Braha’tok- class
gunship called “Apailana’s promise”, accompanied by two X-wing fighters and a number of smaller
land craft. The company’s strategy was very similar to the rest of the Mobile units in that
each operation was a distraction but a distraction that couldn’t be ignored such as the seizure
of depots or positions on a frontline. These dangerous missions led to high casualty rates
but made these men deadly fighters. Their mobility and equipment made them forces that couldn’t be
ignored. This coupled with native resistance, from which they drew most of their recruits,
made them extremely formidable. as Captain Evon put it “Twilight Company is fighting for the heart
of the galaxy. For the spirit of every ordinary man and woman and imperial stormtrooper. Stealing
food won’t help us win. Killing enemies won’t either. Against might on the scale of the Empire,
conventional victory is impossible- When our objectives become purely military, we’ve
already lost”. Their ultimate goal was to win the hearts of the people, counting rescues as far
more valuable than casualties inflicted. In this, they did well as we can see their progress during
the initial offensive of the campaign has taken much of the Mid-Rim in little more than a year.
Twilight company followed this same strategy throughout much of the retreat as well,
targeting Imperial-occupied planets in need and then moving to the next once the rescue was
complete. They became so proficient at it that they delayed the Empire for nearly two years,
allowing much of the fleet and their allies to escape to various outposts.
But by the middle of 3 ABY much of the Mid Rim had been taken back by the empire save for the last
outer remnants. During these last fights, namely the Attack on Haidoral Prime, they had gained an
unexpected ally in the imperial Governor of the Planet, Everi Chalis. She would provide critical
intel for Twilight Company which they would use to great effect in the Coyerti Campaign,
defeating the Imperial garrison there and destroying a biotoxin that would have been
deadly for the native Coyerti. They would do a number of missions after this, but with the main
commander of the retreat, General Amrashad, being killed and most of their forces had pulled out,
they followed suit heading to the rebel Echo Base on Hoth. The Mid Rim retreat was over.
The Main fleet during all of this time had still been searching for a new base,
hopping from system to system, while avoiding Vader's relentless search. They were still
undergoing various small-scale missions to other planets so as to undermine the empire and serve
as a distraction for the main fleet. One of these missions was directed towards Shu-Torun,
as it was a valuable planet for the Empire. The mission would be a success temporarily
knocking it out of commission for the Empire and it resulted in the death of Queen Trios,
the catalyst for their defeat at Mako-Ta. Eventually, the Rebels were able to make a
base and settled for Hoth, an ice planet in the Outer Rim. The base itself had been in the works
for years but this residence as HQ had only been a month old by the time the retreat in the Mid
Rim ended, showing just how long they’d been on the run and how hotly Vader was on their tail.
With their forces pulled out and everyone hid more or less, the Rebels called a conference at Hoth to
hear the defector, Everi Chalis’s information on the Imperial War Machine, so as to understand the
Imperial strategy and plan their next move - the first offensive operation in nearly
two years. But they wouldn’t get their chance. Soon after this meeting ended, a probe was downed
at the Ceyan Range not far from Echo Base by Han Solo and Chewbacca while they were on a routine
scouting operation. The base commander General Carlist Rieekan deduced that this must have been
an Imperial Probe and, taking Solo advice, ordered Code K-One-Zero, the Base evacuation protocol.
This probe classed as Viper Probe XJ9-CS14 was indeed an Imperial probe and was part of Project
Swarm, which had started not long after the Battle of Yavin, in the search for the newest Rebel base,
and whilst it failed to find the second base at Mako-Ta it would reap the fruits now. It
belonged to the Death Squadron which proved to be Rebellion’s ever-vengeful nemesis.
Death Squadron had been scouting the nearby area since they ambushed a Rebel convoy at Derra,
and was alerted by increased Rebel activity in the region. The Squadron’s make-up at
this time was certainly formidable, as they were led as always by Darth Vader himself,
supported by the commander of the fleet Admiral Kendal Ozzel, and Flag Captain Firmus Piett,
all three were on the Flagship - an Executor-class Star Dreadnought, named the Executor, and were
accompanied by Vader’s personal ship an I-class Star Destroyer, the Devastator, 3 II-class Star
Destroyers, among them Tyrant and Avenger. This was of course supplemented with a large number
of starfighters and ground forces, among these the Infamous 501st Legion, also known as Vader’s Fist.
The Rebel forces stationed on Hoth meanwhile had much of their fleet, such as the Mon Cala
cruisers, elsewhere as mobile units, as they deemed putting them in a permanent base again
too risky. So most of their forces were grounds troops and craft to support them, Commander
of the base was the aforementioned General Carlist Rieekan and under him General Organa,
Commander Skywalker. They were supplemented with 30 GR-75 transports, a moderate number of wing
fighters such as T-65B X-wing Starfighters, BTL-A4 Y-wing Bombers, and T-47 Airspeeders. Among these
were Luke’s Rogue Squadron and various others. Having been able to send the information it
gathered before it initiated its self-destruct sequence, the Imperial Probe had alerted Avenger
as to the location of a Power generator on Hoth which Captain Piett believed was a Rebel base.
This was denied by Admiral Ozzel who thought there isn’t enough evidence to support that,
believing it to be a smuggler base. Vader however overturned Ozzel’s order
and told the fleet to set a course to Hoth immediately, hopeful to surprise the Rebels.
Meanwhile, on Hoth, there was a hurricane of activity as the Rebels began loading their
transports which were stationed at the North entrance of the base. Many of them were initially
noncombatants as many had come for the conference and the rest were medical staff and family members
who had fled Imperial persecution. They had just finished loading the non-combatants when Death
Squadron appeared in the system and General Rieekan ordered the Base shield to be put up.
This was a formidable shield and would resist any attempts made for Orbital bombardment and was in
turn protected by a V-150 Planet Defender ion cannon situated on the South Ridge,
a powerful gun built as a planetary defense to disable capital ships.
Having lost the element of surprise due to Ozzel’s coming out of lightspeed too close to the planet,
Vader had to settle on a costly ground assault, but not before executing Ozzel and placing the
newly promoted Admiral Piett in overall command. The ground assault was to be led by the decorated
Officer Maximilian Veers and he was given command of Blizzard Force, an Elite unit of
the 501st which was specialized in fighting in the cold environments such as Hoth. As they had just
arrived to this planet, they had little in the way of scouting information and settled for landing at
a suitable place outside the shields perimeter, that being the Moorsh Moraine. Having landed with
the assistance of their Gozanti-Class cruisers, and escorts, the Imperials took a bit longer as
Veers deemed the larger Y-85 Titan dropships to be too vulnerable to attack in Hoth’s conditions.
During this the Rebels were able to get one of their transports the Quantum Storm out,
as it escaped with its escort after the Ion Cannon had disabled the Tyrant.
The Imperials had 12 AT-AT walker groups, which each being given code name Blizzard
with Veers commanding Blizzard 1. Each AT-AT walker was complemented with several AT-ST
walkers and a number of Snowtrooper squadrons. Blizzard 4’s group, under Colonel Starck,
attempted to impress Vader by going through the Kerane Valley but was turned back to the main
group after having lost three of their walkers due to the treacherous terrain.
Blizzard Force eventually emerged from the fog atop the North ridge of the Nev Ice Flow,
a valley which led directly to Echo Base. Once there they were able to spot not only Echo Base
but the defenses which lay in front of it and realized that the land defenses of the Rebels
were rather rudimentary: small trenches guarded by 1.4 FD P-Towers and D.F9 Turrets, as they had been
constructed only recently and were divided into Outposts: Beta, Echo, and Delta with the latter
being the last before the base. But the soldiers manning them were battle hardened troops with some
fighting even before the recent Mid Rim campaigns. However Outpost Beta was quickly overwhelmed
by the swarming AT-ST walkers and Snow troopers, and its defender fell back to Echo.
Here the defense held up for a little longer. The rebel infantry knew they couldn’t defeat the
AT-ATs with their near impervious armor, so they resolved to hold up the AT-ST’s and ground troops.
Still, eventually they were also pushed back having bought the transports valuable time.
As Blizzard force was now closing in on Outpost Delta, Rebel Command sent their
T-47 airspeeders out to stall the AT-ATs, hoping as well that these could destroy them.
Among these were Rogue Squadron with Skywalker in command. They quickly found that their ships
too couldn’t destroy the slow behemoths that trod ever close towards the base and settled
for attacking the legs in hopes of stalling. This led to the destruction of more AT-ATs
two of these being Blizzard’s 2 and 4, as the clever rebels disabled the walkers’ legs with
a tow cable in one case and another, that of Colonel Starcks with a Thermal grenade. This
caused Veers to begrudgingly accept the Rebels as far more competent than he’d anticipated.
This heroic defense however only delayed the inevitable, as the Airspeeders failed
and Blizzard 6, 8, and 9 cut through the Delta outpost. A general panic ensued within the base,
as the Command itself went dark possibly due to a shot from one of the AT-AT walkers. This led to a
frantic retreat to the base and many rebels were cut down during this. Just as this was going on,
Blizzard 1 got within sight of the Power generator and Veers gave Vader the okay for landing as
shortly after he fired upon the generator and Echo Base’s last defense fell. Almost instantaneously
Blizzard 1 was disabled when a damaged Airspeeder flown by Derek Klivian crashed into its cockpit
severely injuring Veers and knocking it out of the fight but it had done its damage.
Vader soon made landfall near the base accompanied by a small retinue of Snowtroopers and joined the
main assault by punching a hole into the base on the eastern side of the mountain.
From there the battle turned into a wholesale slaughter with many scrambling to the remaining
transports while Vader searched for Rebel Command and Skywalker. During this chaos, many of the
Rebels escaped from the South entrance in the Clabburn Range to the Evacuation site behind the
South Ridge which the Empire had neither found nor guarded, while the rest put up a makeshift
defense, albeit not intentionally. Among them was the Twilight Company and its captain Evon.
Their resistance continued until Vader found and killed most of them including the captain. But
the ultimate goal of the emperor’s enforcer - the crew of the Millenium Falcon and Rebel Command,
escaped, with the grounded Skywalker taking an X-Wing while the Imperial forces ransacked
the base for information, ending the engagement. The Battle of Hoth was a devastating blow for the
Rebel Alliance. While not as costly as Mako-Ta in terms of men and materiel, this was another
hard blow creating a feeling that nowhere is safe for the rebels. 17 GR-75 transports,
Echo Base, and 1000s of Rebels had died and were scattered while the Empire had lost as little as 7
walkers and 500 men. Still, Vader’s insistence on immediate action without having done any scouting
and a poor blockade of the planet led to many of the Rebels escaping. The remnants scattered and
went to secret locations where they would be given a rendezvous point and able to meet up again.
The Rebels were defeated yet again but not destroyed and their next plan would
not only turn their demoralizing streak of defeats, but the whole war, on its head.
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Our next video in this series will be on the Battle of Sullust also known as
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