1st Legion

The 1st Legion, or First Legion, was an elite stormtrooper legion in the military forces of the Galactic Empire. It was the legion that served under the command of the Sith Lord Darth Vader and was known as such across the galaxy due to their affiliation with Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine's right hand. Its members were recruited from the ranks of the equally renowned 501st Legion, another stormtrooper legion that directly served under Vader's command. Those in the 1st Legion who failed to meet Vader's expectations were either transferred back to the 501st or summarily executed for failure. Kimmund, an officer of the First Legion, was the fourth commander in his particular unit, his predecessors having been either demoted or put to death by the Dark Lord of the Sith.

Prior to the Galactic Civil War, the First Legion deployed to the planet Batuu alongside the forces of Grand Admiral Thrawn. Their joint mission brought them into conflict with the Grysks, a warlike people native to the Unknown Regions. The First Legion fought the Grysks on several occasions during their time with Thrawn, the first of which was at Batuu where Kimmund's troopers infiltrated a Grysk long-range heavy freighter and captured several Grysk warriors. However, the prisoners that they brought aboard the Chimaera—an Imperial I-class Star Destroyer and Thrawn's flagship—attempted to steal the First Legion's transport, the Darkhawk, resulting in a battle that Kimmund survived with the help of Thrawn's personal bodyguard, the Noghri assassin Rukh.

Following the failed prisonbreak, the First Legion fought the Grysks in the Battle of Mokivj with Darth Vader leading the ground assault in person. During the battle, Kimmund's troops rescued most of the Force-sensitive Chiss girls that had been abducted by the Grysks. Thrawn and Vader sought to retrieve all of the captives; therefore, they tracked the Grysks that escaped from Mokivj via hyperspace, leading to a another confrontation in which the First Legion succeeded in rescuing the remaining Chiss children. The First Legion supported the 501st Legion's Blizzard Force during the Battle of Hoth, during which 1st and 501st Legion cold weather assault stormtroopers broke into Echo Base under Vader's leadership.

Text and facts from the “1st Legion” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.