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Battle of Hoth question........

Discussion in 'Literature' started by TheJediMan, Jul 8, 2007.

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  1. TheJediMan

    TheJediMan Jedi Youngling star 2

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    May 1, 2005
    In ESB the rebellion had alot of infantry and groudn troops fighting against the imperial groudn forces. My question is what happened to those groudn troops that weren't killed? Did they have transports to fall back ot? Or were they just basically sacrificing themselves to buy time for everyobyd else to get away?
     
  2. Carnage04

    Carnage04 Jedi Knight star 5

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    Mar 8, 2005


    I havn't read the Novel and it might shed more light on the topic, but it seems to me that the Rebel Soldiers tried to keep the Imperials from hitting the shield generator for as long as they could. Once the shield was down, the place was going to go from "Very Dangerous" to "Certain Death" so they started to fall back. It also seems that maybe Rogue Squadron had a different rendezvous where they could ditch their speeders and get into X-Wings maybe.

    The rebellion isn't big on throwing their troops away needlessly and although it was probably expected that many would die they would not send them into a field of battle with no escape....I don't believe.
     
  3. SephyCloneNo15

    SephyCloneNo15 Jedi Knight star 5

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    Apr 9, 2005
    Carnage, according to Rogue Leader (or Rebel Strike, I forget), the Rogues did have a rendevous where they ditched their T-47s for T-65s.

    They also flew around there defending five or six Gallofrees, which may or may not have been the ground troops' escape shuttles.
     
  4. KissMeImARebel

    KissMeImARebel Force Ghost star 5

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    Nov 25, 2003
    The Wolfman at the Mos Eisley Cantina was at the battle of Hoth in the trenches and he got away on an evacuation transport with others IIRC (from the Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina). So I don't think they were abandoned.
     
  5. dizfactor

    dizfactor Jedi Knight star 5

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    Aug 12, 2002
    The people manning the ion cannon were left behind to cover the escape. They were all Alderaan survivors and they volunteered for it.
     
  6. Rogue_Follower

    Rogue_Follower Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Nov 12, 2003
    There are contradicting reports on that, though. Visionaries seems to give a different take on that, with Mon Mothma's son being at the ion cannon controls. And, as you mentioned, some sources indicate that the ion cannon was manned up to the last minute by Alderaanian volunteers, and then set to self destruct so as to cover the escape.

    But this makes more sense when we take into account that there were two ion cannons at Hoth. [face_mischief]
     
  7. Alpha-Red

    Alpha-Red Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Apr 25, 2004
    Didn't the Rebels lose 17 out of 30 transports? Considering such major losses took place in space, I wouldn't be surprised if they were forced to leave a good number of people behind on the surface =/
     
  8. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

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    Jan 27, 2000
    I think the majority of transprots lost were among the final ones to lift off- by then the Imperials had closed the net and only a few managed to skirt past (Wedge & Luke, for example).

    Supposedly the majority of rebel troops did survive, but the ones out in the frontline trenches probably had the highest casualty rates. The rear trenches probably had abetter chance of at least making it to a transport. But again, those last transports were probbaly among those destroyed or captured.

    I'd also imagine quite a few were stranded on Hoth (either couldn't make it to a transport in time, or returned to Hoth via escape pods like some of those aboard Toryn Farr's transport), but I believe Farr's mission to rescue them post-ESB was successful.
     
  9. Carnage04

    Carnage04 Jedi Knight star 5

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    Mar 8, 2005


    They lost 17 out of 30 transports? Ouch. In addition to those killed on the ground that is a high casualty count. A Disaster to be sure.

    What precisely was the reasoning behind a large scale ground base? It would seem that staying mobile and as scattered as possible would be a better plan. It's not like settling Hoth was likely to net them a lot of resources.
     
  10. Alpha-Red

    Alpha-Red Chosen One star 7

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    Apr 25, 2004
    lol, that's pretty much what I asked in the CT forum a while back. I believe it was "what purpose does a Rebel base serve" or something, since ROTJ showed that the Rebels were capable of staying mobile, and they most likely had dozens of smaller bases scattered about in order to even maintain those cruisers. My reasoning was that if the Rebels' major warship groups operated independently and weren't even being serviced at these all-important headquarter sites, then there really isn't any use for the bases we saw on Yavin and Hoth.
     
  11. SephyCloneNo15

    SephyCloneNo15 Jedi Knight star 5

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    Apr 9, 2005
    Seclusion. Perhaps supplies were running low on keeping their shipboard bases fully operational. If funds were low or fuel companies were nationalized, cruising around in Mon Cals all the time might not have been feasable, so they may've needed somewhere to lie low.
     
  12. Jedimarine

    Jedimarine Force Ghost star 5

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    Feb 13, 2001
    Cost is a huge factor: It costs in resources to keep people shipboard.

    Now granted Hoth isn't particularly plentiful...but they didn't have a cost for air, the base generator supplied power that didn't take away from ships. And most valuable, those ships that are not full of rebel support personnel can be ordered on missions and have the time and space to be useful for such things.

    Yavin was chosen for conveniences as much as secrecy. Hoth was chosen primarily for secrecy. Even with all that, they were cheaper alternatives to running around like Battlestar Galactica.

    Cheaper operating costs

    Limitless storage space

    Limitless training space

    Just make sure 1) it's a secret and 2) you have good escape plans.

    And of course, as the Vong would certainly tell you, there are intangible advantages to being on a real world.
     
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