The attack at Datar occurred in 1 BBY, during the Galactic Civil War. While the Rebel forces were completely wiped out, the Galactic Empire's forces failure to capture any prisoners meant the battle was also a failure from the Imperial perspective.
In 1 BBY, Vice Admiral Slenn was part of an Imperial task force assigned to hunt down Rebel bases. The Empire's objectives were to expose the Rebel's supply network, obtain prisoners for interrogation, and discover where they had been shipping weapons.
When Slenn's forces led from the Star Destroyer Vengeance attacked a Rebel outpost on the Inner Rim planet of Datar, the Rebels had advance warning of the attack. Without the element of surprise, the Imperials were unable to quickly move in and take prisoners. Instead, the Rebels fought to the last man.
Slenn was executed by Darth Vader afterward for incompetence. The Imperial forces headed to Nar Shaddaa under Vader's command. In the attack on Nar Shaddaa's Rebels, the Imperial forces attempted to correct Slenn's mistake by disguising their Gamma-class assault shuttles as civilian light freighters.
The battle of Datar was first mentioned in Tom and Martha Veitch's 1995 A Hunter's Fate: Greedo's Tale, released by Bantam Spectra in the Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina short story anthology.
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Vol. I
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- The Essential Atlas