Blizzard Force/Legends

Blizzard Force was an Imperial snowtrooper unit, an elite formation within the Stormtrooper Corps specializing in cold-weather operations. It is most famous for serving as the core of the ground assault force that attacked Echo Base during the Battle of Hoth, under the command of General Maximilian Veers.

Blizzard Force were not part of Death Squadron's integrated surface-warfare forces, but were called on at General Veers' suggestion when the Rebel Alliance's headquarters was located on the frigid world of Hoth. Not only were they the ideal troops to attack a snow-bound target, but they were well-positioned to assist, so that the fleet needed only to make a brief rendezvous to take aboard the extra troops before proceeding on to the target.

For the assault on Echo Base, the snowtroopers were combined with armored units already under Veers' command, foremost among them being the elite Thundering Herd AT-AT squadron. The final assault force consisted of nine AT-ATs (designated Blizzard 1 through Blizzard 9 for the action), plus a number of HAVw A5 Juggernauts, AT-STs (Blizzard Scout 1 to Blizzard Scout 4), AT-ARs, and AT-PTs, plus the infantry of Blizzard Force itself. Some stormtroopers from the 501st Legion also apparently participated in the battle, wearing snowtrooper armor: these may have been the troops who accompanied Lord Darth Vader on his arrival at the base.



Blizzard Force, under General Veers' direction from the lead walker, Blizzard 1, succeeded in capturing Echo Base, despite the loss of a number of walkers to the terrain and to enemy action. Although the heavy armor of the AT-ATs made them virtually immune to laser fire, three vehicles of Colonel Starck's group were lost to ice crevasses in the Kerane Valley, while Rogue Squadron, led by Luke Skywalker, attacked in snowspeeders, using their magnetic harpoons and tow cables to entangle the walkers' feet and thus topple them. At least one walker, Blizzard 2 was destroyed by a strafing attack while thus immobilized, and the undamaged Blizzard 4 was destroyed by Skywalker from the ground, while Hobbie Klivian eventually succeeded in breaching the cockpit armor of Blizzard I itself, severely injuring Veers himself.

By this point, however, the Rebels' shield generator had been destroyed, and their defensive perimeter had been broken. Additional troops led by Lord Vader in person deployed from the orbiting Star Destroyers, and the snowtroopers entered the ice-hewn tunnels of Echo Base.

The Battle of Hoth marked a decisive victory for the Empire, driving the Rebel Alliance in headlong retreat from their command base and going some way to avenge the defeat at Yavin. The contribution of the 501st Legion to the battle was called their finest hour. However, while all Imperial objectives were achieved, and in numerical terms, the loss of a relative handful of troops in the battle was entirely acceptable, one of the Empire's elite assault units had sustained heavy casualties against inferior and improvised defenses. General Veers was left badly injured, General Nevar and Colonel Starck were both dead, and the ice-plains of Hoth were strewn with the wreckage of downed AT-ATs.

It is not known for sure whether either Blizzard Force or the Thundering Herd squadron was reconstituted after the losses they sustained in this battle.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Empire at War (at least Veers and Blizzard 1)
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Entrenched
 * Shadows of the Empire
 * Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
 * Star Wars: Battlefront II