Battle of Yavin/Legends

"Any attack made by the Rebels against this station would be a useless gesture, no matter what technical data they’ve obtained."

- Admiral Motti

The Battle of Yavin, also known as the Battle of the Death Star, was a major battle of the Galactic Civil War that led to the destruction of the first Death Star. The opposing sides were the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance.

Prelude
"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

The battle was arranged after the crew and passengers of the Millennium Falcon seemingly successfully rescued Princess Leia Organa from the Death Star, along with detailed technical plans of the massive space station. Obi-Wan Kenobi had confronted Darth Vader and sacrificed himself so the party could escape with the plans and deliver them to Alliance command.

However, as Leia suspected, they were actually allowed to escape by the Empire so as to lead the Empire to the main Rebel base, which turned out to be on the fourth moon of Yavin.

Studying the plans provided by R2-D2, the Rebels learned that the station had a small exhaust port which led to the main reactor, allowing a proton torpedo to reach the main reactor and destroy the station. However, the port was only 2 meters wide and situated in a narrow trench protected by turbolaser batteries. The trench would have to be navigated to allow the Rebel targeting system to lock on to the port, in a climactic portion of the battle called 'Trench Run'. There was little confidence that the weakness could be exploited in such conditions.

Battle
"Lock S-foils in attack position."

- Garven Dreis



The Death Star arrived in system escorted by a small support fleet consisting of the Nebulon-B frigate Divad and two CR90 corvettes. While the Death Star prepared to fire its main weapon, a communications satellite was deployed to coordinate defenses. The Rebels, still planning their attack, knew that any delay to the Death Star's approach could spell the difference between victory and defeat. Therefore they planned a small attack to destroy the communications satellite and disrupt operations. A trio of X-wings, including Keyan Farlander, and a pair of R-22 Spearheads were dispatched to destroy the comsat. While Farlander's wingmen held off Imperial fighters, Farlander ignored the threat and headed straight for the satellite, destroying it with a proton torpedo. The mission was a success, preventing the Empire calling for reinforcements and disrupting their defenses, although two of the Rebel X-wings were shot down and the pilots had to be rescued later.

Farlander was quickly dispatched again in one of two X-wings charged with clearing some of the defenses around the trench. They succeeded in destroying several laser batteries as well as some small surface hangars, limiting the Death Star's ability to launch fighters for the cost of another X-wing.

The Trench Run
"Evacuate?! In our moment of triumph?! I think you overestimate their chances!"

- Wilhuff Tarkin

Following the preliminary attacks, a fleet of 30 X-wing, Y-wing, and R22 starfighters scrambled to assault the station. The Death Star attempted to use its batteries to defend itself, but the defenses were designed primarily to fight off capital ships, not the small and agile Rebel starfighters. Ships destroyed several turrets and a rookie hotshot known as Rookie One destroyed a giant ion cannon mounted on the Station, in order to set the stage for the main phase of the assault.



The station commander, Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, dismissed the attack as futile and refused to deploy the station's vast TIE squadrons. But Darth Vader, realizing the threat this force was, ordered his personal fighter squadron to scramble on his own authority. The TIE fighter squadrons attacked the Rebel forces soon after they realized that their laser batteries were failing. An order was passed on, to stop all turbolasers from firing, letting the TIEs do the job, and to avoid the risk of Imperial fighters being shot down by friendly fire.

When the first bombing run proved unsuccessful during the Trench Run, the remaining fighters&mdash;three X-wings and one Y-wing&mdash;lined up for the second attempt. Darth Vader pursued and picked them off one by one. To the Rebel Command, all seemed hopeless; time was running out with the Death Star getting into firing position, almost all the fighters were lost and the remaining pilot able to make the run, Skywalker, had senselessly deactivated his targeting computer. Skywalker, however, was advised by the spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi to use the Force to make the seemingly impossible shot.



Vader, sensing that the last pilot was strong in the Force, prepared to kill him. However, at the last moment, Han Solo and Chewbacca of the Millennium Falcon surprised Darth Vader and with a laser blast destroyed one of his wingmen. In the confusion, the other wingman collided with Vader's fighter, sending him careening out of control and into space. Luke made the shot, and with the Force aiding him, his torpedoes entered the port perfectly. The Death Star exploded just seconds before its main gun would have destroyed Yavin 4. Grand Moff Tarkin and most of his staff were killed in the explosion. The Rebel Alliance had won a spectacular victory.

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

- Han Solo

Several officers posted to the Death Star survived, including (then-Colonel) Maximilian Veers and possibly Chief Bast.

Squadrons
30 Rebel starfighters launched from Yavin IV. The whole fleet was comprised of Red, Gold, Blue Squadrons and one other squadron. The known pilots assigned to them are:


 * Red Squadron (12 T-65 X-wings):
 * Red Leader - Garven Dreis
 * Red 2 - Wedge Antilles
 * Red 3 - Biggs Darklighter
 * Red 4 - John D. Branon
 * Red 5 - Luke Skywalker
 * Red 6 - Jek Porkins
 * Red 7 - Elyhek Rue
 * Red 8 - Bren Quersey
 * Red 9 - Naytaan
 * Red 10 - Theron Nett
 * Red 11 - ?
 * Red 12 - ?


 * Gold Squadron (BTL Y-wings):
 * Gold Leader - Jon Vander
 * Gold 2 - Tiree
 * Gold 3 - Ryle Torsyn
 * Gold 4 - Lepira
 * Gold 5 - Davish Krail
 * Gold 6 - Hol Okand
 * Gold ? - Keyan Farlander


 * Blue Squadron (T-65 X-wings, R-22 Spearhead)
 * Blue Leader - Merrick Simms (T-65 X-wing)
 * Blue 2 - Ru Murleen (T-65 X-wing)
 * Blue 3 - 'Rookie One' (T-65 X-wing)
 * Blue 4 - Thurlow Harris (T-65 X-wing)
 * Blue 7 - Jake Farrell (R-22 Spearhead)


 * Unknown squadron (possibly Green Squadron)
 * pilots unknown (T-65 X-wings, BTL Y-wings)


 * Other pilots (squadrons unknown):
 * Hamo Blastwell
 * Wenton Chan
 * Fin Danglot
 * Ernek Marskan
 * Talos Merkin
 * Naeco
 * Sam Raider
 * Doyle Skims (BTL Y-wing)
 * Travis


 * Millennium Falcon
 * Han Solo
 * Chewbacca

Rebel Alliance

 * The Alliance's desperate assault on the Death Star was successful, but costly. Of the twelve members of Red Squadron, only two -- Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles -- survived the assault. All members of Gold Squadron except Keyan Farlander were reportedly killed as well. While a number other pilots also survived the assault, casualties were extremely high.


 * Commander Hamo Blastwell was presumed dead by other pilots following the battle, but was officially listed as missing in action. Blastwell had in fact survived, as later reports placed him working as an undercover agent for the Alliance, posing as an Imperial officer.


 * A number of other Rebels stationed at Yavin 4 were either unable or unwilling to participate in the battle. Both Jal Te Gniev and Derek Klivian were grounded due to illness. Wes Janson would have joined the pilots at Yavin 4 some time before the battle, but stayed behind at his previous assignment due to illness. His replacement, Jek Porkins, was killed in the battle. Tyler Lucian fled Yavin 4 prior to the Death Star's impending arrival, fearing for his life.


 * A Rebel Sullustan named Dr'uun Unnh was killed on the ground by a downed TIE fighter that crashed into the jungle during the battle.

The Empire

 * All personnel onboard the Death Star were killed when the station exploded, including Tarkin, General Cassio Tagge, Admiral Motti and other high ranking officers on Tarkin's staff. Thousands of other officers, troops and staff were killed as well.


 * Nearly all Imperial fighter pilots involved in the battle itself were killed. Exceptions included Darth Vader, whose fighter was sent hurtling off into space, and a TIE fighter pilot named Qorl, who crashed on the surface of Yavin 4. Qorl would survive alone in the jungles for decades before being discovered by students from Luke Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum.


 * Maximilian Veers was on his way to report to the Death Star for his new assignment when the battle began. His command shuttle was attacked and crash landed on Yavin 4. He was rescued by Imperial forces some time after the battle.

Aftermath
As a result of this battle, the Rebel Alliance gained credibility as a legitimate military opponent to the Empire. Between the effects of the battle and the dissolution of the Imperial Senate, thousands of star systems openly joined the Alliance in the months following the Death Star's destruction. As a result, the Empire began occupying worlds it had allowed to remain untouched earlier, both actions resulting in an escalation of the war.

A few months after the Battle of Yavin, the Empire launched a number of small raids at the Yavin moon, in an attempt to destroy the Core Group of the Rebellion.

These raids were carried out by small TIE squadrons launched from a small base near the Yavin system. They often maintain reconnaissance patrols rather than retaliatory attacks. The Rebel Alliance still had to evacuate Yavin 4 to escape retaliation from the Imperial Starfleet and eventually settled on Hoth. The last raid carried out by the Empire was a crushing assault consisting of a planetary blockade and large number of troops, TIE fighters and AT-STs. General Dodonna, mastermind of Yavin's defense, was not able to escape and was captured by Imperial forces and later imprisoned.

The newly launched Executor was dispatched to destroy the Rebel fleet. But Admiral Griff's squadron of Star Destroyers came out of lightspeed and collided with the Executor. By the time the crew regained control, the last Rebel ship jumped into hyperspace.

Few Rebel pilots escaped with their lives from the battle, and only three from the known group: Luke Skywalker, Wedge Antilles and Keyan Farlander.

Calendrical impact
25 years later, it was decided by the New Republic Historical Council to set a new calendar. Some already used a calendar that set year 0 as the fall of Palpatine.

However due to the significance of the destruction of the Death Star, the loss of millions of Imperial personnel and its significance in the eventual overthrow of the Empire, the Council set year 0 as the year when the Battle of Yavin happened; therefore they established the current BBY/ABY calendar which is now in common use.

Behind the scenes



 * The battle is based heavily on the battle scenes in the British war film The Dam Busters.
 * The movie describes the battle only from the point of view of some members of Red Squadron and Gold Squadron, though that only covers some of the thirty ships mentioned and seen in the film.
 * In the novelization of the film, Luke Skywalker's X-wing squadron is called "Blue Squadron" (this change was necessitated because the blue paint on the X-wings had to be removed for blue screen purposes), while the Y-wing squadron is called "Red Squadron". In the film, these colors are changed to Red and Gold, respectively.
 * The novelization also mentions two additional squadrons -- Yellow and Green -- providing cover to those we see in the film. Though these other squadrons are not seen in the film, the number of fighters shown does suggest more than two squadrons.
 * A Blue Squadron at Yavin 4 is mentioned in The Farlander Papers, a novella included in X-wing: The Official Strategy Guide. Blue Squadron actually appears in the game Rebel Assault, though the specific details from that game (the player's character from Blue destroying the Death Star) are not canonical. The characters from that game do appear in Rebel Assault II, the storyline of which has been referred to in sources that are considered to be canon.
 * The fourth squadron has not been referenced in any other source besides the novelization and has not been named. Fans have speculated that the fourth squadron mentioned above could be named Green Squadron, since every other color used in the novelization has been used in other incarnations (assuming "Yellow" is just a substitute for Gold). This has not been officially established.
 * The Farlander Papers reveals that Keyan Farlander is the pilot of the Y-wing fighter seen leaving the Death Star alongside Luke, Wedge and the Millennium Falcon.
 * Though the film only shows us three surviving fighters, X-wing and Rebel Assault both show others flying away from the exploding Death Star. On StarWars.com's Q&A pages, Steve Sansweet says, it's "pretty definite" that more ships survived and just aren't visible on screen.
 * Only one Y-wing pilot, Keyan Farlander, is known to have survived the battle, though some illustrations do depict more than one Y-wing among the surviving Rebel ships as the Death Star detonates.
 * Since the additions of retcons and elements from EU video games, it seems that the events shown in the film are actually a very limited portion of the 'actual' battle. These sources also suggest that the Rebels had to pass through Imperial forces before reaching the Death Star. Rebel Assault showed the Death Star was orbited by a Star Destroyer from which a TIE fighter wave was launched. X-wing showed other Imperial vessels as well.
 * A-wings are shown taking part in the Battle of Yavin in X-wing and Rebel Assault, though other sources indicate the fighters were introduced some time after the battle. The A-wings in these games have been retconned into R-22 Spearheads, a forerunner of the later vessel, only nicknamed "A-wing". Writers created the Spearhead to specifically resolve this discrepancy, and the A-wing's appearance in Droids. Inside the Worlds of Star Wars shows an R-22 in the Rebel base shortly before the battle.
 * The Star Wars Encyclopedia places Commander Narra and his Renegade Flight at the Battle of Yavin. Lucasfilm's Leland Chee has since confirmed this as an error on the StarWars.com forums.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
 * Tag & Bink Are Dead
 * Star Wars: Battlefront II
 * Star Wars: Empire at War 
 * Star Wars: Rebel Assault
 * Star Wars: X-wing
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike
 * Star Wars Empire 13: What Sin Loyalty?
 * Star Wars Empire 14: The Savage Heart
 * Star Wars Empire 7: Sacrifice
 * Priority: X
 * Fair Prey
 * To Fight Another Day
 * Star Wars Empire 22: Alone Together
 * Star Wars Empire 19: Target: Vader
 * Splinter of the Mind's Eye / comic
 * A Valentine Story
 * Entrenched
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Lucky