Battle of Onderon

The Battle of Onderon took place for control of the planet Onderon in 20 BBY, the final year of the Clone Wars. Having instigated Onderon's secession from the Galactic Republic at the war's outset, King Sanjay Rash found his regime, which was being backed by the Confederacy of Independent Systems, challenged by a grass-roots group of rebels organized by the young insurgent Saw Gerrera, who hoped to restore the deposed King Ramsis Dendup to the throne. Seeing an opportunity to engage the Confederacy on another front, the Republic funded the rebels with credits and arms to combat Rash's occupational forces from the Separatist Droid Army, while the Jedi High Council sent a team of advisors to train the rebels. Jedi Generals Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, Commander Ahsoka Tano, and Clone Captain Rex of the 501st Legion were covertly inserted onto Onderon and oversaw training sessions at the insurgency's jungle camp, though the training escalated into actual combat when a battle droid squad attempted to exterminate the rebels.

The newly trained rebels eliminated the enemy droid squad and infiltrated the Separatist-occupied capital Iziz, conducting strikes on droid patrols throughout the city. Kenobi, Skywalker, and Captain Rex thereafter withdrew from Onderon, while Tano stayed as an advisor, working primarily with the rebels' core group: Saw, his sister Steela, and Lux Bonteri, the former senator of Onderon in the Separatist Parliament. As King Rash publicly portrayed them as terrorists, the rebels decided to make a show of strength, targeting Iziz's main power generator to extinguish the battle droids' recharging source while also proving they were capable of challenging the Separatists. Their attack went as planned, with public support rallying to them in opposition to Rash's sponsored occupation of Iziz. Steela was elected to replace Saw as the rebels' leader and oversaw continued offensives against the battle droid forces. Confederate Head of State Count Dooku subsequently sent Rash reinforcements under the command of the super tactical droid General Kalani.

General Tandin and his royal guards sided with the rebels during Rash's attempted execution of ex-King Dendup, helping Steela and her insurgents rescue Dendup and pledging the Royal Onderon Militia to their forces. With Steela appointed by Dendup as their commanding general, the joint rebel and royal soldiers pulled out from Iziz, hoping to preserve civilian lives by isolating armed conflict to the eastern highlands. As full-scale fighting began, Kalani dispatched HMP droid gunships alongside battle droid battalions to strike a decisive blow against the rebel forces. The rebels used the mountain terrain against the Separatists and, despite heavy casualties, retaliated with a supply of rocket launchers—illegally provided by the Republic via the pirate Hondo Ohnaka—that could penetrate the droid gunships' ray shielding. Although Steela was lost in the battle, the rebels won out over the Confederate forces, which withdrew from Onderon once Kalani executed Rash on Dooku's orders. Dendup was thus re-installed as ruler of the liberated Onderon.

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