First Battle of Felucia

This battle took place around 22 BBY on the planet Felucia between Republic and Separatist forces. The Confederate General Grievous led the Separatist Droid Army to attack Felucia, and High Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi General Anakin Skywalker, and Jedi Commander Ahsoka Tano were dispatched with a clone trooper detachment of the Grand Army of the Republic to defend the world on the Republic's behalf. The Jedi and their forces soon began to be overwhelmed by the Separatist battle droids, however, and Republic reinforcements were sent to extract the troops from the planet. While Republic Star Destroyers engaged the Separatist blockade surrounding Felucia, Jedi Master Plo Koon led several LAAT/i gunships and their starfighter escorts to rescue the Jedi and clone troopers on the surface.

After Skywalker, Kenobi, and their troops abandoned their AT-TE walkers to escape on the gunships, Kenobi contacted Tano, who had led a squad on a jungle patrol and had separately engaged the droid army. Though Tano initially refused to retreat, the gunships landed between her forces and the droids, forcing the Padawan and her squad to abandon their fight and escape. Just as the gunships retreated, the AT-TE walkers and the Juggernaut tank that Tano had left behind were blasted apart by a large group of battle droid reinforcements. The Republic retreated, leaving the Confederacy victorious on Felucia.

The battle
"Can't you see they're retreating?''" "''They're about to overrun you, Ahsoka! You just can't see it. Now follow orders and get in the ship."

- Ahsoka Tano argues with Anakin Skywalker

Early in the Clone Wars, General Grievous and the Separatist Droid Army initiated an assault on the Outer Rim planet of Felucia. High Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi General Anakin Skywalker, and the latter's Padawan, Jedi Commander Ahsoka Tano, were dispatched with a clone trooper detachment of the Grand Army of the Republic to defend the world on behalf of the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order. While Kenobi, Skywalker, Clone Commander CC-2224, and Clone Captain CC-7567 stayed with the main body of troops to defend their clearing-based emplacement of AT-TE walkers, Tano led two AT-TE walkers and a Juggernaut tank on a patrol of the dense jungle.

The main Republic force, however, was soon surrounded and overwhelmed by lines of Separatist B1, B2, and DSD1 dwarf spider droids. While Skywalker and Kenobi used their lightsabers to deflect the droids' laser fire, the troopers used the circle of AT-TE walkers for cover and fired blaster shots back into the droid lines. Meanwhile, Tano&mdash;instead of returning to the established base&mdash;led her own troops to engage approaching groups of battle droids and Armored Assault Tanks, rebounding droid fire from aboard her Juggernaut.

Republic reinforcements soon arrived to rescue the trapped forces on Felucia. With a trio of Venator-class Star Destroyers occupying the Separatist blockade of Munificent-class star frigates, Jedi Master Plo Koon led several LAAT/i gunships and their escorting squadron of V-19 Torrent starfighters from his starfighter to extract the troops on the planet's surface. Ordering his wingman, clone pilot Warthog, to protect the gunships, General Koon initiated an attack run on the approaching Vulture droid starfighters, clearing the way for the rest of the Republic ships. Though the fighters made it past the blockade, they were pursued by a pair of droid starfighters into the atmosphere of Felucia. A Republic cruiser, meanwhile, concentrated its firepower on one of the Separatist frigates.

Warthog came under attack by the two pursing Vulture droids, and Koon turned around to assist the clone pilot. Though the Jedi blasted one of the droids apart, the other hit the debris of the disabled fighter and spun out of control toward the Republic forces below. The careering Vulture droid crashed into an AT-TE walker, and Skywalker and Kenobi jumped out of the way just in time to avoid the collision. Realizing that the gunships had broken through the blockade, Kenobi ordered his troops to prepare for an evacuation. After the LAAT/is had landed, CC-2224 and CC-7567 led the clone troopers into the escape vessels, returning the droids' fire while backing into the craft. With the evacuation underway, Kenobi contacted Tano and ordered her to retreat, but the Padawan &mdash;who was continuing her fight against the droids six kilometers east of the main Grand Army detachment &mdash;had already broken through the Separatist defenses and refused to abandon the battle.

As the gunships lifted off with the main Republic force aboard, Kenobi restated his order, but Tano remained determined to defeat the retreating droids. The Padawan and her squad continued to advance, and the approaching Skywalker and Kenobi noticed that battle droid reinforcements were regrouping to counterattack Tano's detachment. The LAAT/i gunships landed directly between the two opposing factions, blocking the Republic squad's fire and forcing the Padawan's troops to retreat. Unable to see the Separatist reinforcements from her vantage point, Tano again objected to abandoning the fight, but Skywalker ordered his Padawan onto the gunship&mdash;to which she finally obeyed, joining the rest of the forces. The clone troopers returned fire at the approaching droids from the escape craft but were unable to halt the advancing battle droid lines. Tano realized her mistake as she witnessed the destruction of the abandoned AT-TE walkers and the Juggernaut at the hands of the battle droids.

Aftermath
"The setback at Felucia has affected our efforts in the whole sector. It'll take weeks before we can&hellip;"

- Obi-Wan Kenobi

The Republic's inability to defend Felucia affected the Grand Army's efforts in the entire sector. Back at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, Tano was put to a hearing with the Jedi High Council as her judicial authority. Jedi Masters Yoda and Mace Windu assigned the Padawan to guard duty in the Jedi Archives with Jedi Librarian Jocasta Nu so that Tano could reflect on her actions away from the war zone. However, the Jedi were soon forced to defend their Temple against the bounty hunter Cad Bane, who had been hired by the Sith Lord Darth Sidious to steal a holocron from the Archives and use it to unlock the Kyber memory crystal, a repository of all known Force-sensitive infants in the galaxy.

Behind the scenes
The battle was the setting for the opening scenes of "Holocron Heist," the October 2, 2009 second season premiere of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series. It was first mentioned in a live script reading with The Clone Wars series voice cast featured at the 2009 Comic-Con International convention with a script penned by Series Director Dave Filoni and was later confirmed in the Databank entry for the planet Felucia.

Notes and references
Erste Schlacht von Felucia Primera Batalla de Felucia (Guerras Clon) Battle of Felucia Felucian ensimmäinen taistelu (kloonisodat)