After the Battle of Yavin and much searching for a new location for its secret base the Rebel Alliance thought it had located the perfect location, the sixth planet in the Hoth System. The Rebel base was located on the northern edge of the temperate zone, in a series of ice caves. Hoth would become the site of one of the largest underground Rebel bases ever constructed. Over a period of 18 months the tunnels needed to connect all of the sections and chambers of the Rebel base were blasted out of the solid ice of a mountainside. An additional two months were spent fitting the caverns with equipment, weapons and life-support, making the base functional just in time for the first wave of arriving fighter craft. The base itself extended down seven levels into the hard, frozen rock of the planet.

    Above the hanger, placed into the mountainside were the base's ground based weapons batteries, which included the v-150 Planet Defender Ion Cannon. Due to the energy demands of Hoth Base, the heavy-duty power generators needed were too large and too thermally-intensive for the underground base and thus they had to be constructed just outside the base, near the mountain in which Echo Base was concealed. All of the generator's thermal and electromagnetic radiations were hidden and safely dispersed to prevent detection from space. VXI-3s were positioned at the Hoth Base and at remote observation posts to provide an early-detection scanning system for the Rebels.

    Hoth Base was nearing completion when one of the thousands of Probe Droids dispatched by the Empire landed on Hoth, after it picked up faint transmissions in the Hoth System. The Imperial Probe Droid managed to land on Hoth undetected, since the network of VXI-3s were impeded by the Hoth System's numerous asteroids and comets. That particular Probe Droid that initiated the Battle of Hoth was launched from the ISD Avenger. There is reason to believe that Commander Skywalker witnessed the arrival of this Imperial probe, mistaking it as a meteorite. And thus is the cause of Commander Skywalker's diversion of his normal patrol route and subsequent encounter with a wampa ice creature. Had Commander Skywalker not been attacked by the wampa ice creature, the Rebels may have discovered the Probot sooner and been able to disable it, the Battle of Hoth may have never happened.

    After landing on Hoth, the Probot detected a faint comm signal on non-Imperial bandwidths, indicating the presence of an unregistered, and possible Rebel settlement. Since it had not gathered enough conclusive evidence to report, the Probot moved away from the nearby signal to avoid contact until such time as self-preservation was no longer necessary. The Probot vectored in on the detected signal's probable destination point, triangulating from its last known position. There were no further contacts made by the Probot till during the night blizzard, when the Probot detected and destroyed a wampa ice creature. The Probot rode out the blizzard by activating its particle shield, which protected it from the thick of the blizzard. In the morning, the Probot came across zone 12, where it discovered the Rebel power generator and began immediate analysis and audio-visual recording of the contact. Then the droid transmitted its data to the awaiting SSD Executor. After the initial contacted was reported, the Probot continued its mission by observing troop movements and positions. It mapped out the Echo Base defences meticulously, including surface trenches, artillery emplacements and the size, model and location of the v-150 Ion Cannon. The data recorded by the Probot was invaluable to General Veers and his commanders, as it allowed Imperial Forces to prepare for the battle and eliminate all Rebel resistance.

    Before the Probot was able to execute its "sabotage and disruption" programming, the Echo Base command centre received a transmission from Echo Station 3-8, as it had discovered the Probe Droid. The Probe Droid however, destroyed Echo Station 3-8 while it was transmitting its discovery to the Echo Base command centre. With that Captain Solo and Chewbacca were dispatched to locate and capture the droid. Both Captain Solo and Chewbacca were able to trap the droid, despite its evasive manoeuvres. After a quick and lethal game of "decoy", Captain Solo and Chewbacca attacked the confused droid with the intentions of disabling its motor functions. However, the droid's override programming activated and it immediately self-destructed. The droid's self-destruct programming must have been marginally affected by either the frigid temperatures or damaged when the droid arrived on Hoth. Due to this, the Probe Droid was not entirely destroyed and thus Lieutenant Voren Na'al and Rebel base technicians were able to piece together some of the droid's memory circuits, and learned some of the droid's experiences.

    Upon hearing Captain Solo's report, General Rieekan ordered the evacuation of Echo Base, knowing that Echo Base had been found. Colonel Ledick Firest was ordered to carry out Evac Rearguard Action 101. He knew that the perimeter could not be held long, and that the Rebels had little chance of stopping the upcoming Imperial onslaught. With that in mind, he had to delay Imperial Forces long enough to allow the Rebel transports to escape to safety. Colonel Firest surmised that Imperial Forces would attack the power generator, in order to drop the shield protecting Echo Base. And there was no doubt that the Imperial Probe Droid already had gathered a good deal of data concerning Rebel positions. Colonel Firest would alter the Rebel defences just enough to lead Imperial Forces where he wanted them to advance, while at the same time making it appear that the Rebel defences were as they appeared in the Probot's transmissions. He would make it appear that it was the power generator the Rebels were trying to protect, not the highly vulnerable evacuation staging area where the Rebel transports and their fighter escorts were to lift off from. Following this plan, a relatively lightly defended path that led straight to the generator was created. The key to the Rebel defence were the Snowspeeders. They had been in running condition for less than a week when they took part in the Battle of Hoth. Starfighters would have been much more effective by virtue of their superior firepower, but they were necessary as escorts for the evacuating transports. All of the Rebels' concentrated defences would keep Imperial Forces from deviating toward the evacuation staging area. If it were not for Colonel Firest, Rebel losses would undoubtedly be much higher.

    Soon after receiving the Probot's signal, and upon Lord Vader's orders, the Imperial Fleet made its way to the Hoth System. On the orders of Admiral Ozzel, the Imperial Fleet came out of hyperspace in the area the Rebels designated as Sector 4 in hopes of surprising the Rebels. Instead, Admiral Ozzel's tactical error of coming out of hyperspace too close the Hoth System alerted the Rebels of the impending Imperial attack, and allowed them to raise the shield over Echo Base and charge up the v-150 Ion Cannon. The Imperial Fleet hastily deployed a siege orbit over Hoth, forcing Star Destroyers to rush to their assigned positions, while at the same time not allowing proper fighter escort deployment. Some vessels had time to deploy fighters, unfortunately, many did not, believing that Imperial Forces so badly outclassed the Rebels that there was no need for fighter support. Ample cover was provided by the asteroid field in the outer regions of the Hoth System, if the Imperial Fleet came out of hyperspace there, the results of the Battle of Hoth would have been even more devastating to the Rebel Alliance. This tactical mistake would be Admiral Ozzel last, as it led to his execution by Lord Vader and the subsequent promotion of Captain Piett to Admiral. This tactical error prevented the Empire from simply conducting a direct bombardment of Echo Base, thus forcing Imperial Forces into a protracted and costly planetary battle.

    As the Rebels were preparing to evacuate, Imperial Star Destroyers were quickly moving into position around Hoth. Dash Rendar was at Echo Base to deliver food supplies when the Empire attacked. The Rebels were forced to protect each transport with two fighter escorts. They would drop the shield for a few seconds, allowing the transport and the fighters to enter low orbit. Simultaneously, the v-150 Ion Cannon would fire several blasts to clear a path for the Rebel craft. This simple strategy would allow a large number of Rebel transports to escape throughout the battle. The escaping Rebels were to proceed to a deep space rendezvous point code named Haven.

    The ISDII Tyrant came into orbit of Hoth and under heavy TIE Fighter escort, deployed drop ships beyond the Rebels' energy shield, on the vast glacier field north of Echo Base. It was the ISDII Tyrant that blocked the first Rebel transport's escape path, the Medium Transport Quantum Storm, and it was that Star Destroyer that was hit by the Rebels' v-150 Ion Cannon, which disabled it long enough to allow the Quantum Storm to escape the Hoth System. Corporal Maren Kelsome served as a forward scout on a tauntaun, posted at Outpost Beta, Echo Base's outermost manned station located on the northern perimeter. It was he that called to Echo Station 3-T-8 reporting the first sighting of Imperial walkers and reported the Imperial advancement. Corporal Kelsome reported the Imperial walkers were two kilometres from the north ridge. With that Colonel Firest called Code Red Alert that "initiated" the Battle of Hoth. Corporal Kelsome underestimated the speed of the approaching AT-AT. He and his tauntaun mount were crushed under its massive foot pad before the Rebels fired a single shot in the Battle of Hoth.

    With the call of spotting Imperial walkers from Echo Station 3-T-8, the Snowspeeders at Echo Base were manned and launched. Soon after, AT-ATs under the command of General Veers opened fire on the entrenched Rebels at Echo Station 5-7, the battle was joined. During the battle against Imperial Forces on Hoth, Dash Rendar temporarily joined the Rebels and flew one of the Rebel Snowspeeders. Shortly after, the Snowspeeders arrived, moving at full throttle with four in the lead towards the advancing AT-ATs. The initial confrontation between the AT-ATs and the Snowspeeders cost the Rebels one of their Snowspeeders as an AT-AT picked it out of the sky. During this, Commander Skywalker ordered his Snowspeeders to conduct "Attack Pattern Delta". During a short period of engagement, Commander Skywalker came to the sobering realization that the AT-ATs' armour was far too strong for the weapons mounted on their Snowspeeders. And thus he ordered the use of the Snowspeeders' harpoons and tow cables against the AT-ATs' legs in hopes of entangling them would cause the AT-ATs to trip and fall to the ground. After Commander Skywalker gave his order, he made his fateful attack run on an AT-AT which resulted in the death of this gunner.

    Around this period in the battle, General Veers was in sight of the Rebel main power generators and was contacted by Lord Vader. General Veers informed Lord Vader that the Rebel shield would be down in moments and that he could begin his landing. With the death of Gunner Dack Ralter, Commander Skywalker had use to Rogue 3, while he provided cover to implementation of his plan of downing an AT-AT. Ultimately, the attack on the AT-AT by Commander Skywalker and Rogue 3 succeeded. With the AT-AT immobilized, a Rebel officer in the Rebel trenches signalled to his men to charge the downed AT-AT. With that the Rebel troops charge towards the downed AT-AT, followed by two Rebel Snowspeeders overhead. Just as the Rebel troops reached the downed AT-AT, Rogue 3 fired his blasters at it and destroyed the AT-AT. The explosion caused some of the Rebel troops to be thrown to the frozen ground.

    By this time in the battle, the Rebels knew that their end was coming near, and with that General Rieekan and Princess Leia ordered the launching of two transports at a time, the launching of remaining patrols and the evacuation of the remaining Rebel ground staff of Echo Base. Throughout the chaos of the battle, Captain Solo and First Mate Chewbacca worked desperately to bring the Millennium Falcon back online so they could escape Hoth and the Empire's tightening grasp. Meanwhile, the assaulting Imperial Forces continued their advance on Echo Base. With the Rebel outer defence trenches penetrated, it would allow Imperial troops to gain access to the interior of Echo Base, General Veers ordered all of his Snowtroopers to disembark the AT-ATs. Meanwhile on the other side of the conflict, Commander Skywalker made another daring attempt to down another AT-AT. While Commander Skywalker remained to provide cover, this time, however, Rogue 2 would be his wingman. As the two Rebel Snowspeeders make their attack run on an AT-AT, Rogue 2 was hit and continued to hurl towards the AT-AT, but exploded before it could collide. Moments later, Commander Skywalker's Snowspeeder was hit and was forced to crash land in the path of an incoming AT-AT. Commander Skywalker was just barely able to escape the fate of being crushed under the massive foot pad of an incoming AT-AT.

    During the desperate holding action of the Rebels, Dash Rendar was able to down one of the AT-ATs. Sometime during the course of the battle, the Echo Base Command Centre had been hit. And at that time, only Princess Leia Organa, C-3PO and two Rebel controllers were still at the command centre. Shortly after the Rebel command centre had been reportedly hit, Captain Solo arrived to get Princess Leia Organa safely to her awaiting transport. Moments after the arrival of Captain Solo, Princess Leia ordered the transfer of all Rebel troops to the south slope to protect the fighters that were located there. Just after those orders were uttered by Princess Leia, Imperial troops managed to breach Echo Base and enter it. With that, the Evacuation Code Signal K-1-0 was issued and Captain Solo, Princess Leia Organa and C-3PO began their escape from the doomed Echo Base. Upon receiving the Evacuation Code Signal, Rebel troops on the icy battlefield of Hoth began to flee towards their awaiting transports, while being pursued by three AT-ATs which were advancing towards Echo Base.

    During this retreat, Commander Skywalker managed to get under one of the advancing AT-ATs. With that, he fired his magnetic harpoon gun (with hoist cable) at the underside of an AT-AT, and was soon pulled up to its underside. Hanging from his hoist cable, Commander Skywalker used his lightsaber to cut open a nearby hatch, which then he threw in a land mine that he was carrying on him. As time was counting down towards the explosion of the land mine, Commander Skywalker released himself from his cable and fell to the icy ground far below. With the land mine still unexploded, the AT-AT continued its advance, with its rear foot pad just missing Commander Skywalker. Moments later the AT-AT stopped in mid step, the land mine exploded with a series of muffled explosions and soon after the "head" of the AT-AT exploded, causing the AT-AT to fall to the ground on its side. To the left of the fallen AT-AT, was the ever advancing AT-AT Blizzard 1. It was at this point of the battle, at distance 17.28, using the maximum firepower of his AT-AT, General Veers destroyed the Rebel power generators.

    Meanwhile, Captain Solo, Princess Leia and C-3PO were trying to make their way to the Medium Transport Thon's Orchard, which was waiting for Princess Leia. On their way to the transport, there was a sudden cave-in in the corridor leading to the awaiting transport. With that, Captain Solo informed the Medium Transport Thon's Orchard to leave without Princess Leia, as he would make haste with his escape along with Princess Leia onboard the Millennium Falcon. And the trio turned tail and began to race back to the main hanger in Echo Base, where the Millennium Falcon was currently waiting. During this period, C-3PO detected Snowtroopers behind it. C-3PO took the liberty to remove the yellow and orange hazard label pasted on a sealed blast door. Behind that sealed blast door were the wampa ice creatures that the Rebels at Echo Base had captured earlier. Unfortunately, for a group of Snowtroopers led by a veteran of the Akuria II garrison, this blast door with the torn label would spell their doom. The Snowtroopers opened the blast door and filed into the chamber with military efficiency. With that they were attacked and killed by the wampa ice creatures being held in that chamber. These slain Snowtroopers were some of the most seasoned and well-trained troops under Lord Vader's command.

    At this point in the battle, Lord Vader along with his Snowtroopers had reached and breached into Echo Base. Shortly after, Captain Solo along with First Mate Chewbacca were desperately trying to start up the Millennium Falcon, so they could made good on their escape from Hoth. During their frantic attempts to get the Millennium Falcon off the ground, a squad of Snowtroopers entered the main hanger of Echo Base, to find Captain Solo's transport still grounded. As the Snowtroopers assembled their E-Web Heavy Repeating Blaster, the hanger doors of the main hanger began to open slowly. As the Snowtroopers prepared to fire the E-Web Heavy Repeating Blaster, Captain Solo revealed yet another of the many surprises of the Millennium Falcon, the "Ground Buzzer" blaster cannon. The "Ground Buzzer" was able to eliminate the E-Web crew along with a few other Snowtroopers. Just as the Millennium Falcon was blasting off, Lord Vader closely following more Snowtroopers arrived in the main hanger of Echo Base. Lord Vader arrived just in time to witness the escape of the Millennium Falcon.

    The Rebel crews operating the v-150 Ion Cannon were from Alderaan, they were the last to leave and escape from Hoth. After ensuring that the v-150 Ion Cannon would not fall into Imperial hands by programming their cannon to destroy itself, the Rebels used its powerful detonation to momentarily blind Imperial ground sensors as they made their escape from Hoth. Besides destroying the v-150 Ion Cannon, Rebel operators destroyed all Rebel computer memory systems and electronic control banks to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Empire. What the Rebel Alliance High Command did not expect was the speed and efficiency in which Echo Base was captured by Imperial Forces. The Snowtroopers of Blizzard Force more than lived up to General Veers' expectations. Their action on Hoth squelched Rebel overconfidence and caused appreciable damage to Rebel morale.

    One of the last transports to escape from Hoth was the Medium Transport Thon's Orchard that was escorted by Commander Wedge Antilles (in a X-Wing), Wes Janson (Y-Wing Gunner) and Derek "Hobbie" Klivian (Y-Wing Pilot). With an Imperial Star Destroyer blocking their escape path and the Rebel KDY v-150 Ion Cannon destroyed, Command Wedge Antilles came up with a daring plan to use the "Talon Split" manoeuvre to escape. The transport hung back, while the X-Wing followed behind the Y-Wing so close that they appeared to be one vessel on sensors. Once the X-Wing and Y-Wing got close enough to the ISD (which was firing its turbolasers at them), the X-Wing cut a 45 degree angle beneath the Y-Wing and destroyed a shield generator dome with a quick release of its proton torpedoes. With that, the Rebels passed over the ISD and along with the Medium Transport Thon's Orchard, they were able to escape the Hoth System. Commander Skywalker's X-Wing was the last Rebel ship to leave the planet of Hoth. The Imperial blockade broke up as Imperial ships gave chase to the fleeing Rebels. Many Rebel transports were able to escape due to poor organization of the Imperial Fleet in orbit around Hoth. The Rebels were routed and their ships barely escaped the Imperial blockade intact.

    Throughout the battle, Rebel Echo Base Troopers conducted "astonishing acts of individual bravery" against Imperial Forces. Although few of these acts had any effect on the ultimate outcome of the Battle of Hoth. The Battle of Hoth was one of the worst battlefield defeats for the Rebel Alliance. Besides suffering a major tactical defeat, due to a lack of appropriate transport the Rebels were forced to leave behind their Snowspeeders which could have seen crucial use at other Rebel bases. Compounding that loss, the Rebels were also forced to abandon a large amount of their vital supplies. Nevertheless, Rebel command personnel and a surprising amount of equipment made it off of Hoth. For the Rebels it was a successful evacuation. After the Battle of Hoth however, the Rebels suffered from a severe bacta shortage.

    General Veers, who masterfully executed his forces was generally credited for the devastating success of the Hoth campaign. He managed to turn the blunder for the Imperial Navy into proof that his unprecedented promotion to general was warranted. This single battle almost brought the end to the Rebellion. If it were not for the constant state of preparation in which the Rebel Alliance held itself, there is little doubt that the Rebellion would be but a fast fading memory.