Battle for Warehouse 053

The Battle for Warehouse 053 was the first pitched battle in what would become known as The Demnadi Crisis, and saw the Rebel forces on Demnadi barely escape destruction due to a brave rearguard effort.

Pre-Battle
After an odd series of events, the Imperial Admiral for the System, Admiral Loteros, captured Rebel Commander David Jonnes in the sewers of Demnadi. After interrogating the Rebel, Loteros discovered that the Rebels on Demnadi were basing their operations out of an abandoned warehouse in the Industrial district of the capital city of Demnadi, numbered 053. Loteros passed this information to Colonel Rudder, commanding officer of the 749th Stormtrooper Regiment stationed on Demnadi. Rudder sprang into action, activating two companies of Stormtroopers, half of his regiment, to attack the massive warehouse. Unfortunately for the Imperials, Jonnes escaped from Imperial custody and warned the Rebels of the imminent attack.

The Initial Attack
Thus, when the Imperials came upon the warehouse, the Rebels were already evacuating. A small rearguard force of about one hundred and fifty men under Commander Bengarion Alter stayed behind in the warehouse to hold off the Imperials while the main Rebel force escaped with their equipment. Colonel Rudder ordered a small squad of skirmishers forward to learn the strength of the Rebel force. This squad came under sniper fire from the warehouse, and Rudder subsequently ordered Captain Karre's company to advance along three separate streets towards the warehouse to try to draw the Rebels out.

Imperial Deception
Alter, however, refused to leave the formidable cover of the warehouse and dared the Imperials to come at him. Seeing that the Rebels would not leave their base, Rudder ordered Karre to launch a mock assault on the warehouse, but to stay to cover to minimize casualties. Any casualties taken, Rudder added, should be made well-visible to the Rebels. Once major resistance was encountered, Karre was to fall back to Rudder's position. Karre did so, and when his men began to fall back, their casualties still low but make to look high, Alter ordered his men to counter attack and destroy the Imperials while they could.

Battle's End
The Rebels played right into Rudder's trap. As soon as Karre was back at Rudder's position, Rudder ordered the companies to enter buildings on either side of the street and remain hidden until the Rebels appeared; the two companies occupied the majority of the city block, taking over every story of every building. When Alter led the Rebels forward, he felt as if something was wrong, but could not place it. He was about to order his men back to the warehouse when Rudder ordered his men to open fire. The devastating crossfire quickly killed much of the Rebel force within seconds, and the remaining Rebels retreated to the warehouse. Rudder then called in air support to destroy the warehouse. Two squadrons of TIE Bombers, supported by three squadrons of TIE Fighters, were sent in by Admiral Loteros. The fighters destroyed what anti-air defenses were surrounding the warehouse, and then the bombers leveled the building with proton bombs. Alter and several other Rebels barely escaped the building before it was destroyed. Over two-thirds of the Rebel force was killed, with the rest (aside from Alter and several others, who escaped) being captured, some of them wounded. Losses on the Imperial side were light, 25 dead and 49 wounded. Tactically, the battle had little significance, but the morale of the Imperial troops rose greatly after the victory.