Battle of Duro (Clone Wars)

At 0221 local time, Operation Durge's Lance had broken through the outer system defenses of Duro, destroying four Golan Arms battle platforms, and three Acclamator-class ships—Anvil, Coronet, and Bolide. Also destroyed were two Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers—Prominence, and Atrisian Iron. After the initial attack, only four more Acclamators, a Victory-class Star Destroyer, and another Dreadnaught remained.

One of Duro's largest space cities, Jyvus Space City, had surrendered to the Confederate Navy. Divisions of battle droids and Neimoidian irregulars transformed the floating city into a field command station for the Office of the General. At the same time Duro Chief Representative Officer Hoolidan Keggle had gone missing. Intelligence speculated that Keggle fled the city down to the planet below. The First and Third Fleets of the Confederate Navy, the original task force launched from Yag'Dhul, had been provisioned by supply lines from Sullust and Thyferra. Techno Union ships had launched seismic EMP countermines to clear the way for an easy attack.

To counter the Confederate fleet, the Galactic Republic sent a squadron of Jedi starfighters and two wings of V-19 Torrent starfighters. But Vulture droids and droid tri-fighters easily broke through the Republic counterattack, managing to destroy another three assault ships. The Confederate forces were then positioned to cut off all Republic reinforcements from Kuat or Nubia. After capturing Jyvus Space City, the Confederacy was able to drop the planetary shields protecting Duro. Separatist drop-fighters and capital ships began orbital bombardment of planetside industrial factories. The bombardment let the troops land and during a week of hard fighting, city after city began to fall to the Confederacy until Hoolidan Keggle signed General Grievous's capitulation to the Separatists. The battle lasted less than a week.

The battle completely destroyed the already fragile ecosystem of Duro. The orbital bombardment had destroyed the last safeguards against the toxins, waste and air pollutants. It left Duro impossible to live on without protective hazard gear. This forced the remainder of the population of Duro to also move off surface, to the orbiting cities of Duro.

Following the battle, the Senate Bureau of Intelligence investigated causes of the defeat. A month later, in a report issued by Agent Inglemenn Barezz, it was revealed that fraudulent requisition datamemos had placed the three newly commissioned Venator-class Star Destroyers allocated to protect Duro as undergoing "shakedown cruises" at a classified location. In reality, they had been redistributed to the Rodia-Ando battlefront in the Mid Rim by the chairman of the Senate Action Subcommittee for Corellian Trade Spine Defense, the Rodian Senator Onaconda Farr. It was also revealed that Iseno Senator Ronet Coorr had reassigned warships from Iseno, which should have aided Duro, to Rodia after being bribed with millions of credits and promised contracts for rebuilding on Ando by Farr.

After the release of the report, both Coorr and Farr resigned from the Senate. A public backlash against both the Senate and Rodians in general was provoked, with calls for giving the Supreme Chancellor full power to conduct the war and for giving Humans command of fleets stationed around rival planets. A full investigation of Senate Action Subcommittees was launched with the goal of restructuring them. The Battle of Duro was one of General Grievous' most impressive military victories, and caused many within the Republic to view him as a greater threat than Count Dooku.

Duro would be liberated by the Republic later in the same year. Along with victories at Commenor, and Balmorra, the battle was instrumental driving the Confederacy from its bases in the Core Worlds and the Colonies regions of the galaxy and beginning the Outer Rim Sieges.

• The New Essential Chronology
• "Unknown Soldier: The Story of General Grievous" — Star Wars Insider 86
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
• The Clone Wars Campaign Guide
• Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Praji on Hyperspace
• The Essential Atlas
• The Essential Guide to Warfare
• Suns of Fortune