As the Clone Wars came to an end and Order 66 was delivered to the Clone Commanders across the Galaxy, Anakin Skywalker, who was now Darth Vader marched on the Jedi temple with his 501st Clone Troopers to eliminate all remaining Jedi, in the dark event known as Operation Knightfall. During this mission, a small detachment from the 501st, made up of five Clone Trooper squads, were pulled back and outfitted with fake Jedi robes, in order to impersonate members of the Jedi order, hoping to both keep outsiders unaware of what was truly going on inside, as well as kill any survivors that came to them, believing they were friendly. So who were these fake Jedi clone troopers, and what did they do at the temple on that Dark Day? Let’s find out.
Decoy squad five, or fifth decoy squad was one of 5 squads from Anakin’s 501st legion who were secretly added to their ranks only a short while before Order 66.
Because Palpatine planned Order 66 a very long time in advance of executing the Order and having the Clones turn on their Jedi generals, he ordered a very small, custom batch of Clone Troopers well in advance of the war that were bred specifically to possess very quickly reflexes and be constantly alert. These clones were created to have traits very similar to a Jedi knight, or at least as close as the Kaminoans could get with a simple clone.
Because of the extreme complexity of these clone troopers, and their very secretive purpose, the Order placed with the Kaminoans only allowed them to create around 40 of these units.
Fast forwarding to the day of Operation Knightfall, these Clone troopers were covertly inserted into the 501st legion, and were given the order to put on fake Jedi robes and garments, while pretending to be Jedi knights protecting the temple.
One of the squads who were from this secret group was called Decoy squad 5, yes a very secretive name…
The squad was led by a sergeant and was tasked with guarding one of the entrances to the temple from any intruder After Order 66. After the distress beacon inside of the Jedi temple was turned on, informing the Jedi that the war was over and that they were to return to the temple, Decoy Squad waited patiently at their assigned entrance, wearing their Jedi robes, and were instructed to kill any returning Jedi on sight.
The other four decoy squads guarded the other temple entrances, pretending to be Jedi also, but squad 5 was the most important… They had the tough task of guarding the entrance where Obi-Wan Kenobi and Master Yoda entered the temple.