Battle of Kashyyyk/Legends

The Second Battle of Kashyyyk took place towards the end of the Clone Wars. It was fought on the planet Kashyyyk, the homeworld of the Wookiees.

Pre-battle
Kashyyyk was considered a major navigation hub for the southwest quadrant of the Galaxy, as such it was strategically important system which had long been a target for the Separatist military. Confederacy leaders requested the Wookiees join their rebellion, but the Kashyyyk royal families proved indecisive. General Grievous, having become impatient regarding their decision to join the Confederacy, decided to send battle droids to "persuade" them. Accidentally, the droids killed Prince Rikummee, who was on a hunt, and King Grakchawwaa decided to oppose the Separatists. After a number of probing attacks throughout the war the Separatists finally decided on a full scale invasion of the city of Kachirho in the Wawaatt Archipelago. This was to serve as a literal beach head into the rest of the forest covered planet. To this end the Separatists made particular use of the age old enmity between the native Wookiee and their system neighbors the Trandoshans to prepare for their attack. The Trandoshans did this in a number of ways, in particular by raiding the city and taking it's leader, General Tarfful prisoner, using their slaving activities as a cover for the true objective. In secret, the Separatists landed a large droid force and prepared for their attack. A Wookiee woodsmith, Tarkov, on a grantaloupe hunt with his son Jaccoba, discovered the invasion force and warned the nearest township, Kahiyuk. From there, the alarm clarions spread the word of invasion to the other archipelago cities of Warralokk, Grunnrurr, and Rowrakruk. The Wookiees prepared for war. However, while the system was an important strategic location and both sides believe the battle to be straightforward, it was in fact little more than a diversion by Darth Sidious.

Later, the clone commandos of Delta Squad were dispatched to find Tarfful and unite the Wookiees against the Separatists. After rescuing Wookiee Chieftain Tarfful from Trandoshans and General Grievous, who had commanded the first part of the battle, the clone commandos of Delta Squad aided the Wookiee resistance in Kachirho against the Separatist forces, destroying the Commerce Guild destroyer in orbit. Sev was captured, and Delta Squad pulled out onto a gunship as the Separatist counterattack came. Later, they discovered they were an advance group for a Republic invasion force.

The space battle
A massive blockade of Trade Federation cruisers surrounded the planet in hopes of stopping any Republic forces from touching down on the planet. So, the pilots of the 501st Legion were dispatched to cut a path through the fleet. Destroying the Munificent-class star frigate defenses, the fleet focused all firepower on the nearest Providence-class carrier/destroyer. Using a high-altitude LAAT gunship, a squad of clone troopers formed a boarding party and sabotaged the inside of the ship, destroying the command bridge life-support and engines. They came across a battle-plan holocron, which contained the Separatist's strategies for the upcoming ground battle, and delivered it safely back to their Star Destroyer. With a path cut through the blockade, Yoda and the 41st Elite Corps would land on the planet with ease later on. The 501st touched down on the planet and established positions for Yoda's forces.

The Battle
Kashyyyk was considered too important to lose to the Separatists, so battalions of clone troopers from the 41st Elite Corps, supplemented by units assigned to the 501st Legion, were dispatched to the Wookiee homeworld to aid the Wookiee forces engaged in battle with a Separatist droid army.

The Jedi Grand Master himself, Yoda, held good relations with the Wookiees, and thus became the commanding officer for the Republic forces sent to the system. He was assisted in the direction of the combined forces by General Tarfful and Chewbacca, heads of the local Wookiee defense force. Jedi Masters Luminara Unduli and Quinlan Vos (having been reassigned from Boz Pity) was also present.



The Separatists were still blockading the planet by the time Yoda's forces arrived. However, General Yoda's fleet was able to penetrate the blockade and land on the surface. The space battle continued, cutting the detachment of droids already landed off from the the rest of the Separatist Fleet. The droid battalions established their command posts and attacked.

On the vehicle front, Wookiee flying catamarans were aided by Juggernauts, AT-AP and AT-RT walkers and other assault vehicles. They faced enormous opposition from Separatist NR-N99 droid tanks, dwarf spider droids and HMP gunships.

Despite the best efforts of the combined Wookiee/Republic defense, Kachirho soon became in danger of being overrun by the Separatists. On one front, the 501st Legion had been beaten back by Separatist forces, which were advancing on a crucial oil refinery. As one trooper remarked, "If we can't hold them back, this whole place is going to blow."

The best efforts of Clone engineers and TX-130S fighter tanks managed to keep the sea wall intact until General Yoda could arrive to push the CIS back. With the foiling of this crucial mission, the droid army began to retreat.

Master Yoda was shocked by a strong disturbance in the Force as Order 66 was carried out throughout the Galaxy. Clone Commander CC-1004, nicknamed Gree, received a comlink-call on a frequency-locked channel reserved for the commander. The image of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine instructed him to execute Order 66 against General Yoda.

As the clones prepared to execute him, Yoda withdrew his lightsaber and in one fell swoop decapitated his would-be assassins. Yoda then proceeded to escape into the nearby jungle along with Wookiee warriors Tarfful and Chewbacca.

Outside, the battle between Republic and Separatist forces appeared to be over: Wookiees stacked destroyed droids while clone troopers assessed the damage to their equipment and began preparing for a full-scale invasion of Kashyyyk. Jedi Master Luminara Unduli was talking with eight clone officers standing in a circle around her when they executed Order 66. Jedi Master Quinlan Vos was riding on top of a Kuat Drive Yards HAVw A6 Juggernaut; the main cannon of the nearby Juggernaut destroyed the tank and he was hit by the explosion, although he was able to survive, badly burned.

As the Republic forces that came to defend the planet from the invaders became the invaders and executed their commanders in cold blood, the Battle of Kashyyyk was over. The Republic forces soon pulled out of the system, allowing the Wookiees to begin salvaging the masses of wrecked military hardware that the battle had left strewn across the world.

Galactic Republic

 * Clone Commander Gree
 * Clone Commander Faie
 * Attichitcuk
 * Chewbacca
 * Eugroothwa
 * Jaccoba
 * Lachichuk
 * Merumeru
 * RC-1138
 * RC-1140
 * RC-1207
 * RC-1262
 * Salporin
 * Tarfful
 * Tarkov
 * Luminara Unduli
 * Quinlan Vos
 * Yoda

Confederacy of Independent Systems

 * Grievous

Behind the Scenes
A climactic battle between the technologically advanced Empire and a race of primitive hairy aliens, the Wookiees, was present in George Lucas' original treatment for Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. As the story changed and the trilogy structure was solidified in Lucas' mind, the battle was postponed until Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, where it developed into a battle featuring Ewoks on the forest moon of Endor. At the same time, the Wookiees developed into a more technologically savvy, though not less hairy, species. Lucas' original conception of the battle featured hundreds of Wookiees on screen. Due to costs, the original idea was scrapped and replaced by a battle featuring relatively few diminutive Ewoks, who did not play a very significant tactical role in the battle. A large scale battle with hundreds of characters was eventually realized in The Phantom Menace.

The battle scenes also marked the onscreen debut of the HAVw A6 Juggernaut, the AT-RT, the AT-AP and the NR-N99 Persuader-class tank droid.

Appearances

 * Deep Forest
 * Star Wars: Republic Commando
 * Star Wars: Clone Wars
 * Chapter 22
 * Star Wars Battlefront II
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith