Battle of Yavin
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| Battle of Yavin | |||||||
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| Part of the Galactic Civil War | |||||||
 Rebel X-wing fighters approaching the Death Star. |
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| Combatants | |||||||
| Galactic Empire | Rebel Alliance | ||||||
| Commanders | |||||||
| Grand Moff Tarkin † Darth Vader Admiral Motti † General Tagge Chief Bast |
General Dodonna General Willard Garven Dreis (Red Leader)† John Vander (Gold Leader) Admiral Ackbar (Supreme Commander of the Rebel Alliance Fleet) |
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| Strength | |||||||
| 100TIE Fighters Darth Vader's TIE Advanced Death Star heavy, medium and light laser batteries Turbolaser batteries, about a 50,000 imperial gunners, maintenance units and gun support personnel |
30 Alliance starfighters, consisting of a mix of Red Squadron X-Wings and Gold Squadron Y-Wings Millennium Falcon |
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| Casualties | |||||||
| Nearly the entire complement of the Death Star, numbering at least 1,000,000 Imperial personnel and civilian contractors, 7 tie pilots (including Vader's wingmen) killed during the rebel assault | 27 pilots | ||||||
| Major battles of the Galactic Civil War |
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| Yavin - Hoth - Bespin - Endor |
The Battle of Yavin was a major battle set in the fictional Star Wars universe, during the Galactic Civil War. The opposing sides were the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance. The battle was the climactic scene of the 1977 film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, and was heavily influenced by battle scenes in the British war film 633 Squadron, which has a very similar climactic battle sequence of a fighter-bomber attack on a small, but crucial, shielded target at the end of a heavily defended deep and narrow fjord.
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[edit] Prelude
During the Battle of Danuta, Kyle Katarn had stolen the plans to the Death Star, which ensured the first Rebel victory.
The battle was arranged after the crew and passengers of the Millennium Falcon appeared to have successfully rescued Princess Leia Organa, who was held as a prisoner on the Death Star. Detailed technical plans of the massive space station were also recovered as part of the rescue mission. Imperial forces allowed the crew members of the Falcon to escape, so as to lead the Empire to the main Rebel base. The Rebel base was finally discovered on the fourth moon of the planet Yavin.
After an analysis of the technical plans of the Death Star, the Rebels discovered that the station had a small exhaust port which led to the main reactor. This open exhaust port would allow a solid projectile to reach the main reactor, causing a massive explosion that would destroy the entire station. The port was only two metres wide and was situated in a narrow trench that was heavily protected by turbolaser batteries. The trench would have to be precisely navigated to allow the Rebel targeting systems to lock weapons fire onto the port. The port was ray shielded so that only proton torpedoes could be effectively used. There was little confidence among the Imperials, or the Rebel attackers, that the weakness could be exploited under such conditions.
[edit] Battle of Yavin
As the Death Star closed on the Yavin moon and prepared to fire its main weapon and destroy the Rebel base, the Rebel Alliance dispatched a fleet of 30 X-wing and Y-wing fighters, which included Luke Skywalker, designated "Red 5", piloting an X-wing fighter. The Yellow and Blue squadrons created a diversion by attacking surface targets, hangar facilities and heavy gun emplacements (an event not shown in film), while Gold and Red squadrons focused their attack on the vulnerable exhaust port.
In the film, an Imperial security officer reports, "We count 30 Rebel ships, Lord Vader, but they are so small they are evading our turbolasers." The Death Star attempted to use turbolaser batteries to defend itself, but the defences were designed to defend against larger capital ships, and were not effective in fighting the smaller, faster Rebel starfighters. The station commander, Grand Moff Tarkin, dismissed the attack as futile and refused to deploy the station's vast TIE fighter squadrons to defend the station. Darth Vader realized the threat this force posed and ordered his personal fighter squadron to be scrambled and intercept the Rebel starfighters. An order was passed, later on during the battle, to stop all turbolasers from firing on the rebels. Vader's squadron continued the attack and destroyed most of the Rebel fighters.
Rebel casualties during the battle were heavy, with 90 percent losses caused by the station guns and Vader's squadron. Gold Leader lead the first attack run of three Y-Wing fighters. Darth Vader, in his customized TIE fighter, along with two hand-picked pilots, was able to destroy the Y-wings before they were able to launch any weapons.
After the first bombing run proved unsuccessful, Red Leader made a second attack run, this time leaving his wingmen farther behind him to buy more time. Red 1, alone and in front, was able to fly the length of the trench and launch his proton torpedoes. The shot missed the thermal exhaust port by inches and detonated on the surface, causing little more than superficial damage to the station. The surface impact of the proton torpedoes caused the station to shake violently, foreshadowing the fate that awaited the Imperials should the Rebels succeed with a direct hit on the exhaust port.
Red 1 was shot down after his starboard engine was disabled and crashed into the surface of the Death Star. Once this attack had failed, the remaining fighters; three X-wings piloted by Biggs Darklighter, Wedge Antilles, and led by Luke Skywalker, lined up for a third attack attempt. Vader pursued and continued to attack the Rebel fighters, first damaging Wedge's ship enough that he was forced to withdraw, and then destroying Biggs' X-Wing, leaving Luke alone and vulnerable to Vader's guns.
To the Rebel Command, all seemed hopeless; time was running out as the Death Star neared a firing position, almost all the fighters were lost and the only remaining pilot able to make the run was Skywalker, who had inexplicably deactivated his ship's targeting computer during his run. Skywalker, however, was advised by the spirit of his mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, to use the Force to make the seemingly impossible shot.
Vader, sensing that the remaining pilot was strong in the Force, prepared to kill him. Han Solo and Chewbacca, in the Millennium Falcon, appeared from out of nowhere and surprised Vader, destroying one of Vader's wingmen. In the confusion that followed, Vader's remaining wingman panicked and collided with Vader's TIE fighter, sending Vader and his ship careening out of control and away from the Death Star. With the aid of the Force, Skywalker made the shot and his torpedoes entered the port. The Death Star exploded just seconds before the station's main gun would have destroyed the Rebel moon. Tarkin and most of his staff, including some of the best personnel of the Empire, were killed in the explosion. The Rebel Alliance had won a second victory.
Several officers aboard the Death Star survived, including Colonel Maximillian Veers, General Tagge and Chief Bast, who had originally warned Tarkin of the danger that the Rebel fighter attack posed. Bast's survival is evidenced by his appearance in The Star Wars Holiday Special one year later, where he was seen reporting to Darth Vader on the blockade of Kashyyyk.
[edit] Aftermath
The Rebel Alliance gained credibility as a military opponent to the Empire as a result of the battle. A few months after the Battle of Yavin, the Empire launched a number of small raids on the Yavin moon in an attempt to destroy the Core Group and military command of the Rebellion. These raids were carried out by small TIE fighter squadrons launched from a small outpost near the Yavin system. They often performed reconnaissance patrols rather than make retaliatory attacks. The Rebel Alliance would still need to evacuate Yavin 4 to escape retaliation from the Imperial Starfleet. The Rebel Alliance eventually settled on the ice planet Hoth. The last raid carried out by the Empire was a crushing assault that consisted of a massive planetary blockade. Several Imperial battalions were dispatched to the moon to capture fleeing rebel personnel. General Dodonna, head of Yavin's defense, was captured by Imperial forces during the battle and was presumed to be killed.
The newly launched Star Destroyer, Executor, was dispatched to destroy the Rebel fleet. When Admiral Griff's squadron of Star Destroyers dropped out of light speed they collided with the Executor. By the time the crew regained control of the ship, the last Rebel ship had jumped into hyperspace.
The only Rebel pilots to survive the battle were Skywalker, Wedge Antilles and Keyan Farlander. (Some believe it may actually have been Horton Salm instead of Keyan Farlander, but the novel, Wraith Squadron, may have ruled Salm out.) The Millennium Falcon, although not an active participant, also survived.
The Empire would later gain a measure of revenge in the Massacre on Talay and the Battle of Hoth.
[edit] Trivia
The music played during the Battle of Yavin, scored by John Williams, bears striking resemblances to Mars, the first movement to Gustav Holst's The Planets. Only X-wings are seen firing during the battle. Infact, the only time Y-wings are seen shooting is in Return of the Jedi, where a Y-wing destroys 2 TIE interceptors.
