Battle of Hoth (0 BBY)

The Battle of Hoth occurred in 0 BBY, shortly before the Battle of Yavin, when Imperial forces located the Alliance to Restore the Republic's Gamma Base on Hoth. The Rebels were forced to evacuate Hoth and flee to Yavin 4.

Prelude
Shortly after the Battle of Toprawa, Imperial forces under Darth Vader tracked Princess Leia Organa's CR90 corvette Tantive IV to Tatooine in an attempt to retrieve the plans to their Death Star battlestation after they were captured by Rebel agents. In an effort to keep them out of Imperial hands, Organa sent the plans to the planet's surface in the care of the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO. The Imperials began a search of the planet and, upon discovering the presence of a Rebel base there, launched forces to destroy it. However, a group of Rebels were able to escape Tatooine and fled to Gamma Base on Hoth. Determined to locate the Rebels, Vader dispatched Viper probe droids to search for them.

The battle
After one of the probe droids arrived on Hoth, the commander of Gamma Base dispatched Rookie One in a T-47 airspeeder to investigate, ordering him to destroy any probe droids he found. Rookie One soon confirmed the presence of a probe droid and the Rebels prepared to evacuate while the pilot pursued the droid into a cave. After destroying the probe, Rookie One brought his snowspeeder out of the cave and rendezvoused with other Rebel snowspeeders to assist in the defense of Gamma Base&mdash;All Terrain Armored Transports were approaching the base and the Rebels needed more time to evacuate. The Rebels fought bravely against the heavily armored All Terrain Armored Transports, succeeding in bringing down two of the walkers with their laser cannons.

As the Rebels retreated, Rookie One's snowspeeder suffered a power loss and he was unable to stay airborne. However, he told the others to carry on without him and ensure the safety of the fleeing transports while he attempted to return to base on foot. Unable to wait for the downed pilot, the commander oversaw the evacuation, leaving Rookie One alone on the planet. By the time he crossed the frozen landscape to reach Gamma Base, the base was overrun by Imperial stormtroopers. Rookie One fought his way through the base, eventually reaching the hangar where he boarded the last remaining T-65 X-wing starfighter, making his escape in the nick of time as stormtroopers fired futilely after him. Rookie One's departure was just in time to assist the last GR-75 medium transport as it attempted to escape to hyperspace. The pilot joined up with Commander Ru Murleen's group and the Rebels fought waves of TIE fighters, keeping them away from the transport until it safely jumped out of the system. Once the Rebel pilots were clear of the Imperial fighters, they followed the transport to safety.

Aftermath
The Rebels fled to Yavin Base on Yavin 4. However, the Imperials had captured Organa and allowed her to escape, tracking her back to Yavin 4. Unconcerned by the Imperial failure to prevent the Rebel evacuation of Gamma Base, Vader prepared for a major strike on Yavin Base itself. Following the Battle of Yavin, the Rebels would eventually return to Hoth and establish Echo Base. However, they were once again forced to evacuate in 3 ABY when the Imperials discovered the new base.

Behind the scenes
The battle made its only appearance in the 1993 LucasArts video game Star Wars: Rebel Assault by Vincent Lee. The game featured an original story, though many of the events were designed to be reminiscent of events shown in the Star Wars movies. The battle had much in common with the Battle of Hoth from 1980's Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and, although the planet was never identified in the game itself, both the manual for the Sega CD version and the box for the PC version identify the ice-world featured as "Hoth".

The Rebel presence on Hoth in 0 BBY poses a continuity error: According to earlier sources, planet Hoth was unknown to the Rebel Intelligence prior to the Battle of Yavin, until discovered accidentally when Luke Skywalker crashed on the planet. Another source gives a different account, that the Rebels learned the existence of Hoth by the Habassa species, also after the Battle of Yavin.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Rebel Assault