Battle of Tatooine (Galactic Civil War)

"I doubt if the Empire would even fight to keep this system."

- Laze Loneozner

The First Battle of Tatooine in the Galactic Civil War was a series of battles and skirmishes in the Tatoo system, primarily on the planet Tatooine, within a few days before the climactic Battle of Yavin.

Many of the local Rebel enemies of the Galactic Empire were captured or killed, with the ground operations being carried out in parts by the renowned 501st Legion of stormtroopers.

Pre-Battle conflicts
An unwitting instigator to the battle, was the disguised corvette Tantive IV, being used as an important vessel in the Rebel Alliance fleet, most notably in the operation to steal the Death Star plans.

The theft of these plans successfully occurred during a distracting Rebel prisoner revolt on the Death Star, being supplemented by partial documents stolen during the Battle of Danuta and the Battle of Toprawa.

Immediately, an Imperial assault on a makeshift Rebel base on Polis Massa was initiated, being tasked with retaking the stolen plans. This, however, failed in recovering the lost schematics. The next attempt in the recovery effort involved the Emperor's feared enforcer, Darth Vader, taking his legion of Imperial stormtroopers to where the Tantive IV was harbored&mdash;within the Tatoo system. The information that the Tantive IV held the plans had been obtained by captured Rebels, as well as a Bothan who revealed it to Emperor Palpatine on Bothawui.

Recovering the plans
Upon reaching the Tatoo system, the Imperial fleet was ambushed by a pirate fleet near the planet Tatooine. Upon taking out most of the pirate attackers, the Navy then hid in the surrounding nebulas, avoiding detection by Blue Squadron, led by Raymus Antilles, who were scouting the area.

When Tantive IV moved toward the uplink station, Immobilizer frigates were activated, preventing it from escaping. A clash between the Imperial fleet and the Alliance fleet broke out, with both sides taking several casualties in the crossfire. The Star Destroyer Devastator pursued Tantive IV out of the battlefield and chased it around the planet Tatooine.



A laser bolt hit near the bridge of the Tantive, disabling the main reactor and preventing the vessel from entering Tatooine's atmosphere. The Devastator moved in and caught the corvette in a tractor beam. Vader then dispatched a TIE boarding craft filled up with troops, to board and secure the ship.

As troopers of the 501st stormed the hallways of Tantive IV, a skirmish erupted between them and Rebel troopers defending the ship. Due to the use of thermal detonators, both sides incurred heavy casualties, but the 501st broke through, capturing the main Rebel barracks and clearing the way for Lord Vader's arrival.

Vader personally destroyed all security terminals on the bridge, disabled a turbine console and stole a set of access codes, in an attempt to gain entry to the ship's escape pod bays. He and a set of Imperial bodyguards, then set out through the corridors, killing some Rebel troopers and capturing many more. The team then stormed the cockpit of the corvette. Eventually, Vader captured the Rebel command, including Princess Leia, as well as the ship's captain, Raymus Antilles, whom Vader killed personally.

The Rebel protocol droid C-3PO, along with an astromech droid vital to the Rebellion, subsequently escaped the ship: R2-D2 having secretly obtained the Death Star schematics Vader had been so eager to recover.

Soon after these events, an alarm sounded in the Rebel Anchorhead Base on Tatooine. Rookie One, Ru Murleen and another pilot, flew their X-wings in space above the planet and turned their weapons towards the Devastator. They managed to strike a critical blow, but didn't destroy the flagship.

Desert extermination
The second Imperial strike was originally to be conducted by the local garrison and intended as a means of eliminating native desert inhabitants, primarily unruly Tusken Raiders, so desert outposts could be secured and set up to overlook activity in the nearby spaceport of Mos Eisley.

However, Mos Eisley was renowned as a magnet for outcasts, crooks, and intergalactic escapees, and was believed to be the refuge of a fugitive R2 unit dispatched by the Rebellion. With the stolen schematics in its databanks, R2-D2 had become a high-priority Imperial target and because of Tantive IV's suspicious location over the dangerous, barren planet, the Empire suspected a Rebel base may be hidden in Mos Eisley. This brought the 501st into the fray, as an elite detachment from the Devastator was sent to deal with the matter.

As Imperial sandtroopers attempted to construct command stations in the Dune Sea, they were assailed by the fierce, nomadic Tusken Raiders. However, a deadly sarlacc pit in the combat zone prevented Imperials from crossing Tusken territory to besiege the Raiders' camps.



Soon after, Rebel soldiers, working in Mos Eisley as seemingly normal merchants, mechanics, and pilots, quickly departed from the city to fend off both the Imperials and Tuskens&mdash;many having surreptitious relations to the reclusive Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi who lived in the Jundland Wastes.

It is suspected the sudden presence of the Rebels could also have had its origin in the hideaway base in the neighboring Tatooine community of Anchorhead.

A three-way battle broke out, with the Tuskens besieged on two sides. Rebels who were effortlessly able to smuggle heavy weaponry into lawless Tatooine, now exposed their explosive equipment. At least one AT-ST walker was felled by Rebel rocket launchers.

Nevertheless, the Empire, using AT-STs to eliminate both enemy ranks, were diminishing their foes.

The small Rebel army was completely eradicated&mdash;and now positive that Rebels had established a cell in Mos Eisley, the Imperial commander on the ground Praji, had the city hastily surrounded by his men.

Siege of Mos Eisley
The Imperial sandtroopers, led by Praji, joined with the local Mos Eisley stormtrooper garrison and scattered throughout the city, to retrieve information about the stolen Death Star plans.

A few local Rebels, using guerrilla tactics, kept the sandtroopers on their feet by coming out through alleys, striking suddenly, and then shrinking away. Armed troopers, some on dewbacks, casually strolled through neighborhoods and homes, interrogating anyone they felt inclined to.



In the Mos Eisley cantina, Garouf Lafoe rushed to notify the Imperial troops upon witnessing a scuffle between a raving madman and a man wielding a lightsaber. Upon the troops' arrival, the man had already vacated the premises. Meanwhile, Imperial spy Garindan informed the stormtrooper force of the droids' location, and that the smuggler, Han Solo, was helping the droids escape the planet.

The squad moved into Docking Bay 94, where they engaged Solo in a firefight, only to have him escape. During the firefight, Captain Mod Terrik was gunned down by Imperial traitor Davin Felth.

After the Millennium Falcon ' s escape from Docking Bay 94, a "pacification" campaign was waged in the streets. Several Mos Eisley citizens, along with Rebels, managed to secure run-down apartment districts and a damaged sail barge among other locales. The Stormtroopers managed to squelch the resistance in short order.

During the pacification, Garindan led a stormtrooper contingent toward Anchorhead, but was intercepted by the Rebel Ketwol. Ketwol managed to kill some infantry and Garindan fled. Having lost their informant, the Imperials retreated back to Mos Eisley.

Ultimately, the Rebels ended their hit-and-run attacks&mdash;most blasted dead before causing any real harm to Imperial soldiers&mdash;leaving the Empire victorious during this final operation. However, they never recovered the lost Death Star plans, as several Star Destroyers blockading the planet failed to capture Millennium Falcon as it fled. This would ultimately result in the Rebel's amazing victory in the Battle of Yavin not long after. While the Imperial garrison remained on high alert for some time to come, the 501st detachment left Tatooine and returned to the Death Star.

Aftermath
The punishment of Mos Eisley would continue for many months, and homesteads were continuously harassed by Viper probe droids.

Late in the Galactic Civil War the Empire decided to make a harsh maneuver- having a TIE Bomber run over Mos Eisley, killing dozens of civilians and destroying many buildings. The pacification finally came to an end in 2 ABY &mdash; during the Tatooine Uprising &mdash; when Rogue Squadron intercepted and destroyed the TIE Bombers.

During the four years of Tatooine's brutal control by the Empire, the planet saw only little relief, during the aftermath of a Rebel attack on an Imperial station there.

The citizens would finally be freed during the Third Battle of Tatooine.

To hide their attack on Tantive IV, Imperial officials declared that the pirate resistance over Tatooine had boarded the corvette, and a meteor shower had destroyed it. It was claimed the Imperial task force had simply gone to investigate.

Behind the scenes

 * The computer game Star Wars: Rebel Assault includes a bonus level where X-wings from Anchorhead Base have to clear out Mos Eisley from AT-ST walkers soon after the Tantive IV incident above Tatooine.
 * Although considered non-canon, that attack might be a part of the above-mentioned skirmish, as Star Wars: Complete Locations confirms that AT-STs were stationed in Mos Eisley. It's also possible that Anchorhead Base (its existence also doubted) was the base of the ground forces that participated in the skirmish.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Empire at War
 * Star Wars: Rebel Assault
 * Star Wars: Force Commander
 * Star Wars: Battlefront
 * Star Wars: Battlefront II
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope novelization
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Original Trilogy