Battle of Kamino

The Battle of Kamino, a key campaign of the Clone Wars, was fought for control of the planet Kamino in 21 BBY. Also known as the Invasion of Kamino or the Defense of Kamino, the battle occurred when the Confederacy of Independent Systems launched a massive assault aimed at crippling the Grand Army of the Republic's main cloning facilities in Kamino's capital, Tipoca City. Having collaborated during a thwarted attempt to invade Kamino several months earlier, rivals General Grievous and Dark Acolyte Asajj Ventress were assigned by Count Dooku to lead the Separatist attack on Kamino. Joining Jedi General Shaak Ti and Prime Minister Lama Su in coordinating the Galactic Republic's defense of Kamino were Jedi Generals Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker who, unwilling to lose the vital cloning factories, brought their clone troopers of the 501st Legion to reinforce the Grand Army defenses.

Ventress had already infiltrated Kamino by the time Grievous arrived to beleaguer the Republic's naval blockade with an invasion fleet of his own. Although Skywalker led the Republic's starfighter squadrons against the Confederate armada, the resulting space engagement only served as a cover for elements of the Separatist Droid Army to land on Kamino via re-entry capsules disguised as starship debris. After being reassembled by Ventress's aqua droids in the ocean of Kamino, the Separatist Trident-class assault ships launched their troops against Tipoca City, and the Jedi and clones rushed to repel Grievous and the invaders. Ventress went after a DNA sample of the Grand Army's prime clone Jango Fett but was intercepted by Skywalker, who dueled the Dark Acolyte for the DNA sample. In a similar fashion, Grievous was confronted by Kenobi while spearheading a droid assault on Tipoca City's clone barracks.

As the Separatist battle droids pressed further into Tipoca City, Kamino's elite Advanced Recon Commandos played a critical part in repulsing the enemy forces from the clone troopers' homeworld. While Clone Commander Cody and Clone Captain Rex organized a defense of the barracks, Ti led other troops in pushing back the droids to Tipoca City's main hangar, where the invaders were eliminated. Ultimately, Grievous and Ventress failed to cripple Tipoca City as they had hoped thanks to the intervention of Kenobi and Skywalker, the latter of whom recovered the stolen DNA sample from Ventress. Skywalker attempted to have his clone troopers execute Ventress, but she escaped with Grievous aboard a Kamino flight pod. Despite heavy losses, the Jedi and clones were able to drive the Separatists from Kamino. Two 501st troopers, Fives and Echo, were awarded ARC trooper status for their performance in the battle.

Text and facts from the “Battle of Kamino/Legends” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.