The Battle of Hoth, also known as the attack on Hoth, the assault on Echo Base, or the attack on Echo Base, was a major battle fought in 3 ABY and was considered a major victory for the Galactic Empire and the single worst battlefield defeat suffered by the Rebel Alliance during the Galactic Civil War. The battle was an Imperial invasion led by Darth Vader, aimed at destroying the Rebel Alliance’s Echo Base hidden on the remote ice world Hoth and capturing Luke Skywalker. The base’s location was discovered when a Viper probe droid, deployed by Darth Vader’s Death Squadron randomly landed on Hoth, convincing the Rebels to begin an evacuation of Hoth.
The Imperial attack force consisted of primarily AT-AT walkers, commanded by General Maximilian Veers. His army was tasked with destroying Echo Base’s main power generator to allow orbital bombardment of the planet and for Darth Vader to arrive and lead ground forces into the base. Spearheading the defense of the generator were the T-47 airspeeders of Rogue Squadron, commanded by Luke Skywalker, the pilot renowned for destroying the first Death Star. However, the snowspeeders did not have the necessary firepower to bring down the walkers, so Skywalker suggested an alternative tactic to trip the walkers with the tow cables issued to every snowspeeder.
Despite the efforts by Rogue Squadron, the power generator was eventually destroyed by Veers’ main AT-AT. The remaining base personnel proceeded to evacuate, as the 501st Legion, led by Darth Vader, entered the base. The overwhelming Imperial invasion forced the Rebellion to scatter their fleet across the galaxy, leading to a multitude of scattered skirmishes across the galaxy for over six months before the Empire’s sudden and crushing defeat at the Battle of Endor.
The Battle of Hoth first appeared in the 1980 film Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back. The battle was also featured in the Star Wars Galaxy of Adventures short Darth Vader vs. Hoth Rebels – Crushing the Rebellion, though these shorts are not supposed to be seen as literal canon fact. Within the short, Darth Vader, having traveled to Echo Base upon the shield generators destruction seeking his son, Luke Skywalker, marched throughout the base to see personally to the rebels defeat. Leading the Imperial ground assault forces to the gates of Echo Base, he used the Force to tear them down. Several rebel troopers, having formed a defensive barrier with crates, opened fire on the Imperials. Vader easily deflected their blasts with his lightsaber and cut down several rebels. Snowtroopers proceeded to mount an E-Web heavy repeating blaster cannon and annihilate more defenders. Other snowtroopers attacked and killed rebel troopers with grenades. As the stockade burned, Vader surveyed the destruction while snowtroopers fanned out across the base.