Battle of Yavin

"This will be a day long remembered. It has seen the end of Kenobi; it will soon see the end of the rebellion."

- Darth Vader to Grand Moff Tarkin before the battle

The Battle of Yavin was a major battle of the Galactic Civil War that led to the destruction of the first Death Star and was one of the Rebellion's first major victories.

Prelude
Agents of the Rebel Alliance had stolen detailed plans and design specifications for the Imperial battlestation known as the Death Star and transmitted them to Princess Leia, before her capture by Imperial forces under the command of Darth Vader.

A short time later, she was rescued from captivity by an unlikely alliance of a smuggler, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, and a young farmboy from Tatooine, Luke Skywalker. The group, in possession of the Death Star plans, fled to the Rebel base on Yavin 4&mdash;closely pursued by the battlestation.

The battle
"Lock S-foils in attack position."

- Red Leader

Rebel assault
Having identified a small thermal exhaust port as a weak point on the station, the Rebels dispatched their fleet of X-wing and Y-wing starfighters in a desperate attempt to destroy the battlestation before it could come within range of destroying Yavin 4 itself.

The fighters made several runs on the Death Star, incurring some casualties before Imperial forces determined that their weapons were not fast enough to take out the attacking ships.

Imperial counterstrike
The deployment of Imperial TIE fighters served to devastate the Rebel attackers, destroying them with far more speed and efficiency than the station's weapon emplacements had been able to.

Some time into the fighting, Imperial forces aboard the Death Star identified the threat of the Rebels' attack strategy, and Darth Vader himself decided to lead a squadron to destroy the remaining Rebel fighters.

Rebel victory
"Great shot, kid! That was one in a million!"

- Han Solo to Skywalker

After several failed Rebel runs through the trench leading to the exhaust port, Luke Skywalker led a final attempt personally with Wedge Antilles and his old friend, Biggs Darklighter, as wingmen. As they rushed down the trench at full throttle, they found themselves flanked by Darth Vader and his fighters.

Vader personally destroyed Darklighter's X-wing and damaged Antilles' fighter, but was having difficulty destroying Skywalker, when one of his fighters exploded beside him. Han Solo, believed to have abandoned the Rebels before the battle began, had unexpectedly returned to assist Skywalker in his most desperate moment.

Momentarily distracted by the intervention, Vader and his remaining wingman collided and veered wildly off course, allowing Skywalker to fire the shot that would destroy the Death Star.

Aftermath
Skywalker, Solo, and the surviving Rebel fighters returned to Yavin. There they held a celebration ceremony, awarding the pair with medals for their achievement in saving the rebellion.

Eventually, the Rebels were forced to leave the site of their victory, fleeing the Empire once again.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
 * Star Wars: Battlefront
 * Star Wars: Commander
 * Heir to the Jedi
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back