Execute Battalion

"Execute Battalion, take ATAT300!"

―Clone Captain Rex, to the members of Execute Battalion^[1]

Execute Battalion was a clone trooper battalion of the 501st Legion in the armed forces of the Galactic Republic that fought during the Clone Wars, and was part of a group of three brigades. During the Battle of Devaron, members of Execute Battalion were ordered by Clone Captain Rex to man the AT-TE designated ATAT300 in order to board a Separatist Munificent-class star frigate under the command of the bounty hunter Cad Bane.^[1]

Description

Execute Battalion was the designation of a clone trooper battalion that was part of one of three brigades of the 501st Legion. As a battalion of the Grand Army of the Republic,^[1] it was composed of four companies of 144 troopers each, for a total of 576 troopers.^[2]

History

After the bounty hunter Cad Bane raided the Jedi Grand Temple and secured a holocron, he made his way to Devaron to capture Jedi General Bolla Ropal, the keeper of the kyber memory crystal that unlocked the holocron. As Separatist Alliance forces attacked the Galactic Republic outpost under Bane's leadership and captured Ropal, the Fifth Fleet Venator-class Star Destroyer Resolute^[1] under Fleet Admiral^[3] Wullf Yularen and Jedi General Anakin Skywalker engaged Bane's fleet of five Munificent-class star frigates before they could escape, destroying four.^[1]

Execute Battalion was stationed aboard the Resolute when the Star Destroyer disabled Bane's frigate, preventing it from entering hyperspace. Preparing to board the frigate, Clone Captain Rex mustered the troops of three 501st brigades, including troopers from Execute and Carnivore Battalions. Not maintaining boarding craft, General Skywalker ordered that Admiral Yularen activate three All Terrain Tactical Enforcer walkers to utilize them as the boarding vehicles. Though Yularen disagreed with using them in a boarding capacity, Captain Rex and Skywalker's Padawan Ahsoka Tano agreed, and as such Rex ordered members of Execute Battalion to board walker ATAT300, Carnivore Battalion to board walker 773, and the remaining troops to follow him to the third walker.^[1]

The three walkers were dispatched from the hangar of the Resolute, which had placed itself on the Separatist frigate's topside. The three walkers landed on the frigate's hull, and utilized their magnetic mechanical feet to remain aboard. The walkers opened fire on B1-series battle droids stationed on the hull's exterior and attacked the frigate's emplacements, before one of the walkers was destroyed by Vulture-class starfighter droids. The remaining two walkers continued onwards towards the aft of the frigate, continuing to engage Separatist forces. With Skywalker and Tano advancing ahead and securing an airlock, the remaining clone troopers disembarked their walkers and entered the frigate.^[1]

Surviving Republic forces made their way to the frigate's bridge, but were unable to capture Bane who escaped moments prior to the breach. The Separatist command crew also wiped the ship's memory banks, destroyed evidence of their mission, transferred ship functions to Bane's wrist comm, and began the ship's self-destruct sequence. After Skywalker and Tano found Ropal's body, Skywalker ordered several troopers to take his body back to the Resolute. Meanwhile, another group of clones were destroying all escape pods.^[1]