Battle of D'Qar

The evacuation of D'Qar took place in 34 ABY after Resistance fighters destroyed the First Order superweapon known as Starkiller Base.

Prelude
"&hellip;the Resistance must be destroyed before they get to Skywalker.''" "We have their location. We tracked their reconnaissance ship to the Ileenium system." "''Good. Then we will crush them once and for all. Prepare the weapon."

- Supreme Leader Snoke and General Armitage Hux

In 34 ABY, the First Order superweapon known as Starkiller Base destroyed Hosnian Prime, capital planet of the New Republic, and the other worlds of the Hosnian system. The Resistance, led by General Leia Organa, sent a reconnaissance team to discover the location of the superweapon and report back to the Resistance at their base on D'Qar. The First Order tracked the reconnaissance ships back to D'Qar, thus discovering the location of their enemy forces. On the orders of Supreme Leader Snoke, who wanted to prevent the Resistance from finding Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and enlisting him in their fight against the First Order, General Armitage Hux prepared the weapon to destroy the Resistance. Without the New Republic Starfleet, however, the Resistance seemed doomed to destruction.

Before the First Order could unleash the weapon, the Resistance sent a small strike force&mdash;ex-General Han Solo, his first mate Chewbacca, and former stormtrooper and Starkiller Base worker Finn&mdash;to Starkiller Base to disable the shields preventing the destruction of the base. Meanwhile, Commander Poe Dameron led a starfighter force to Starkiller Base to destroy it. The ground forces succeeded, though Solo was killed in battle, and the Resistance fighters destroyed the base.

The Resistance fighters returned to D'Qar, celebrated their victory, and prepared a mission to discover Skywalker's whereabouts. The First Order, while reeling from the destruction of their weapon, still nonetheless had the location of the Resistance base.

The evacuation
Shortly after Starkiller Base was destroyed, the Resistance evacuated their base on D'Qar. Afterward, the Resistance continued their operations against the First Order.

Behind the scenes
The evacuation of D'Qar was first referenced as part of the story of Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi, set for release on December 17, 2017, at San Diego Comic-Con 2017.