The Battle at Hoth

Wes K. Tanger-Foxtrot, 1LT, ζ1024Class 10-002

Small Group 10, CPT Swee22 April 2010

Abstract

After the location of Echo Base, the new Rebel headquarters, was revealed by an Imperial probe droid, the Imperial Starfleet rushed to attack this time-sensitive target. The Imperial approach and strategy violated the Principles of Surprise and Unity of Command. Additionally, there were partial deficiencies in the warfighting functions Movement & Maneuver. However, the Imperials strengths in the principle of Mass, as well as the functions Fires and Sustainment more than made up for their aforementioned blunders. The Battle at Hoth is a historical example of how the Empire unleashed their biggest can of Whoop-Butt on the outnumbered and outgunned Rebel Alliance.

Introduction

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, Imperials under the rule of Emperor Palpatine

were still bitter from the loss two years prior of a super battle station, the Death Star. The Rebel

forces responsible for the attack went underground, literally. The Battle at Hoth demonstrates

how the Principle of Mass can compensate for deficiencies in Surprise and Unity of Command.

The Warfighting function Movement and Maneuver is also demonstrated to be a strength in the

hands of an experienced leader, and detrimental when the inexperienced are at the helm.

Primary sources used in this paper include videotapes of the battle and situations surrounding the

battle as displayed in the accountings of A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of

the Jedi. Secondary sources include Doug Beason’s book, “When the Desert Wind Turns: The

Stormtrooper’s Tale”.

Strategic Setting

Within hours of destroying the planet of Alderaan, the Empire’s most powerful weapon,

the Death Star, suffered an untimely and unforeseen demise in the vicinity of Yavin 4. The

Imperial Forces were highly organized and well-equipped, especially in comparison to their

enemy counterparts which were, at best, a ragtag collection of passionate mercenaries. A team

of Bothan Rebel Alliance spies were able to steal the blueprints to the Death Star which revealed

an overlooked but crucial weakness in the Imperial superweapon.1 With little time to analyze the

data and prepare the attack, the Rebel forces had even less time to scramble any healthy pilots

and functional starfighters with which to carry out the attack. The Rebel forces were nearly

hopelessly outnumbered and outmatched. However, Imperial Grand Moff Tarkin, commander of

the Death Star, failed to realize that the squads comprised of the smaller, numerically-inferior but

more maneuverable X-wing and Y-wing starfighters had the capability to infiltrate the infinite

waves of TIE fighters, TIE bombers, Star Destroyers, and the organic surface defenses of the

Death Star itself.2

After the improbable but spectacular destruction of the Death Star battle station, which

had a mass equivalent to that of a small moon,3 the local Imperial forces retreated and regrouped.

The Rebel Alliance, however, while winning the day’s battle, still had not inflicted any serious

damage to the Emperor’s grip on the galaxy and had to evacuate their headquarters to a new,

secret location.

The Imperial forces had absorbed a significant, but not critical, defeat. It’s leadership,

mainly Emperor Palpatine and his deputy, the Sith Lord Darth Vader, both survived any political

criticism from the surprising defeat of the Death Star. It’s possible that all critics to the Emperor

or Darth Vader were silenced permanently through electrocution or strangulation, respectively.

Months were spent looking for the location of the new Rebel Alliance headquarters. One probe

droid, amongst thousands that were dispatched, reported suspicious activity on a remote, ice

planet and a full Imperial fleet headed to the Hoth System to repay the Rebels for the destruction

of the Death Star.4

Tactical Situation

Mission: The overall Imperial mission was to crush the Rebellion. The ground forces, led by

General Veers, were to attack and destroy the Rebel headquarters, named Echo Base, beginning

with the shield generator. Imperial Admiral Ozzel was in charge transporting the ground troops

while maintaining control of the planetary space to capture any escaping Rebels.5 The Imperials

held the advantage over the outmanned, outgunned Rebels, whose sole mission was to evacuate

and escape.

Equipment: The Empire blockaded the planet’s space with Star Destroyers, while the ground

forces consisted of several battalions of quadruped All-Terrain Armored Transport (AT-AT)

Walkers supplemented with an array of biped All-Terrain Scout Transports (AT-STs). The

Rebel forces were fortified with defensive ion and blaster cannons and equipped with a squadron

of snow speeders specifically outfitted for Hoth’s cold weather environment. The Rebels had

also tamed the locally-procured fauna, Tauntauns for ground scouting purposes.6 The Imperial

equipment and firepower provided them with a superior advantage.

Terrain: The remote, ice planet of Hoth is nearly devoid of complex life forms with freezing

temperatures and rugged terrain. The Rebels were able to acclimate and compensate to the

hostile environment.

Although the

Imperials had cold

weather versions of

their equipment and

troops which

nullified any Rebel

advantages, the

Rebels also had the knowledge of the local area as well as the layout of the underground tunnels

of Echo Base. This knowledge provided the Rebels with a slight advantage allowing a good

number to escape the Imperial attack.

Troops: Both sides were well-rested after the previous battle at Yavin 4, which occurred two

years prior. The Rebels had time to acclimate to the colder weather and had established

defensive positions. The base had a chaotic atmosphere after the sudden arrival of the Imperial

Starfleet. The Imperials had little to no knowledge of the land, but their simmering anger over

the loss of the Death Star combined with the opportunity to deliver the finishing blow to the

Rebellion fueled their morale and motivation. Additionally, their superior numbers place a clear

advantage to the Imperials.

Time: The Rebel forces had months to entrench themselves and set up defense positions at the

location of their new Rebel base. Even though the Imperials had to quickly scramble together a

task force to attack this time-sensitive target, they also had a galaxy-wide resource pool of which

to gather equipment and manpower. The advantage falls to Imperials.

The Battle

Map 1 7

A couple of years after the destruction of the Death Star, one of thousands of deployed

Imperial probe droids lands on the icy sixth planet of the remote Hoth System (See Map 1). The

residing Rebel Alliance forces detect the metal object, speculate it to be of Imperial origin, but

fail to destroy it before it can be positively identified. As a precautionary measure, the Rebels

begin preparations for an emergency evacuation of Echo Base.8

Meanwhile the images that were recorded and transmitted by the probe droid are received

by Darth Vader’s flagship, the Executor.9 Darth Vader reviews the images and, possibly

drawing on a mysterious “energy field” called the Force,10 he instantly and confidently states that

the base is of Rebel origin. He orders Admiral Ozzel to set the Imperial Starfleet’s course for

Hoth. Admiral Ozzel, however, comes out of hyperspace too close to the ice planet and the

Rebel Alliance is immediately alerted to the Imperials’ presence.11 For his oversight and

blunder, Admiral Ozzel is executed by Darth Vader’s death grip and the second-in-command,

Chief Fleet Captain Firmus Piett, is promoted on-the-spot to Admiral.12

The Rebels erect an energy shield which prevents any aerial bombardment or approach to

the Rebel base and the ground assault team, Blizzard Force, is forced to land a distance away

from the base at Moorsh Morraine (see Map 2).13, 14 From there the Imperial AT-ATs and AT-

STs begin their approach to the fortified Rebel position. The Rebels begin their evacuation by

temporary lowering their energy shield for departing transports. Despite the blockade

established to capture any fleeing Rebels, a ground-placed ion cannon temporarily disables any

impeding Star Destroyers and thus allows the transports to get free.15

Map 2 16

As the Imperial ground forces approach from the north, the Rebels quickly learn that the

heavily armored AT-ATs aren’t vulnerable to anything in their arsenal. A quickly devised

scheme to use a snow speeder’s tow cable to tie up the AT-AT’s “legs” is successful in bringing

down one AT-AT, but the effort is too little, too late. The AT-AT’s weaponry is efficient against

aerial approach and many of the snow speeders don’t get the opportunity to get close enough to

the AT-AT despite their speed and maneuverability. The discoverer of the inherent weakness of

the AT-AT is often attributed to Davin Felth, a Rebel sympathizer within the Imperial

Stormtrooper ranks, who passed on the secret to the Rebel Alliance.17

General Veers, leading the AT-AT assault, masterfully applies the AT-AT’s blasters to

destroy the base’s weaponry and sends the defenders scrambling for safety and escape. He

successfully reaches and destroys the base’s shield generators, allowing for the aerial delivery of

Snowtroopers along with those carried in by the AT-ATs. The lowering of the shields also

allows for aerial bombardment of the base itself.18

Although some transports had escaped, a significant portion were captured or failed to

take off. Scores of Rebels were either captured or killed as a result of the Imperials’ quick and

overwhelming assault. The Rebellion’s defeat and the base’s destruction was so complete that

many considered this battle to be the end of the Rebellion.19

Significance

Short Term: The battle was nothing short of an utter disaster for the Rebel Alliance. They

suffered a significant decline in personnel, either through casualties from the battle itself, or from

those that were captured after failing to evade the blockade or escape the base altogether. The

Imperial forces suffered the loss of two AT-AT Walkers as well as the storm troopers that were

aboard. Their losses were relatively insignificant compared to the total number of Imperial

forces at Emperor Palpatine’s disposal.

Long Term: The Empire was successful in disrupting the Rebellion’s operations. While the

destruction of the Rebel base was a symbolic beheading of the Rebel Alliance, it was only

symbolic. The essence of the Alliance, namely its leaders and their vision, had all survived and

escaped unharmed. The loss of a central base was only a temporary setback and the Rebels held

the ability to regroup and then restart its efforts at defeating the Empire one solar system at a

time.

Analysis

After the chance discovery of the new Rebel Alliance base on the sixth planet of the

remote Hoth System, Imperial forces under the commands of Admiral Piett and General Veers

launched an attack on the hidden rebel base. The Imperials attempt a Surprise attack which

failed when Admiral Ozzel arrived out of hyperspace too close to Echo Base’s planet. His

failure alerted the Rebels to the Imperials’ presence before they could hatch their attack plan.

Additionally, the Imperials had two, and arguably three commanders in charge of the battle,

detracting from the Unity of Command. While Lord Vader was technically of the highest

rank, being second to only Emperor Palpatine, much of the mission in terms of planning, arrival,

delivery, and assault fell to both Admiral Ozzel and General Veers. Admiral Ozzel was

summarily executed at the hands of Darth Vader shortly after arrival at the Hoth and Captain

Piett took his place. The newly minted Admiral Piett, was tasked to organize the Imperial

Starfleet to ensure that no Rebels escaped. The Rebels, however, had devised a plan which

allowed the escape of some of their transports. The hasty plans and failure to capture or kill all

the Rebels can be attributed to Captain Piett’s inexperience at commanding fleets.

General Veers, on the other hand, is superbly experienced with AT-AT tactics; as a

colonel, he led the recruiting and training of top cadets at the Carida Academy.20 Unlike Admiral

Piett, General Veers is a master at the warfighting functions Movement and Maneuver, and

Fires. He appropriately selected the AT-ATs for the ground assault along Hoth’s harsh

environment and rugged terrain. The energy shield forced the landing of Blizzard Force a

distance to the north of Echo Base and the AT-ATs had little trouble traversing the snowy plains

while using the equipped laser cannons to destroy the faster, aerial snow speeders and stationary

ground battery emplacements.

As for Sustainment, the Empire also benefited from the seemingly endless supply of

resources, including vehicles, weaponry, and manpower. With a whole galaxy from which to

supply their war machine, the Empire has every asset imaginable to fund their forces to emerge

victorious in the Galactic Civil War. The Empire launched thousands of probe droids to aid in

the galaxy-wide search for Echo Base and the Rebellion; it would have taken decades to yield the

same result had the search relied on humint alone.

Indeed, the overwhelming resource pool provides the Empire with its greatest asset.

With the exception of the outlying defeat at Yavin 4, much of the Empire’s success can be

credited to the Principle of Mass. Military tactics aside, victories on the battlefield can be

achieved when an overwhelmingly disproportionate amount of fire power is used to subdue the

enemy. It is the way of the bully. It is the way of the winner... unless your enemy happens to be

a Jedi.

___________________________1, 2, 3, 10 Episode IV: A New Hope, 19774, 5, 6, 8, 11, 15, 18 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, 19807 Unknown Source9 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, 198312, 13 Battle of Hoth -- Wookieepedia, the Star Wars Wiki <http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Battle_of_Hoth> 24 April 201014, 16, 19 Kerrie Dougherty, et al., Star Wars: Complete Locations, (New York, NY: DK Publishing, 2005), 142 - 145.17, 20 Doug Beason, “When the Desert Wind Turns: The Stormtrooper’s Tale”, Star Wars: Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina, (Manhattan, NY: Bantam Spectra, 1995), 247-278.

Bibliography

Battle of Hoth -- Wookieepedia, the Star Wars Wiki. <http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Battle_of_Hoth> (24 April 2010)

Beason, Doug. “When the Desert Wind Turns: The Stormtrooper’s Tale”, Star Wars: Tales from

the Mos Eisley Cantina. Manhattan, NY: Bantam Spectra, 1995.

Dougherty, Kerrie, et al., Star Wars: Complete Locations. New York, NY: DK Publishing, 2005.

Episode IV: A New Hope, 1977.

Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, 1980.

Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, 1983.

Unknown Source