Beryl Chiffonage Beryl Chiffonage was a Human male commander of the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the height of the Galactic Civil War . An expert military tactician with an intimate knowledge of Imperial battle tactics , Chiffonage worked closely with Alliance High Command and Alliance Intelligence as a member of the Task Force on Alliance Security . Under the leadership of Alliance Generals Jan Dodonna and Carlist Rieekan , Chiffonage helped to devise attack and defensive maneuvers for Rebel bases , including the base on Dantooine and Echo Base on Hoth . Chiffonage helped train tactical prodigy Risiev Credal in a variety of ground and airborne scenarios . Before Credal inexplicably disappeared from the Alliance , considered by High Command and Intelligence to be a traitor , he and Chiffonage , in cooperation with Luke Skywalker , developed a series of tactics for T - 47 airspeeder squadrons to be utilized against Imperial All Terrain Armored Transports as part of Echo Base ' s defensive measures . Known as the Rogue Doctrine , Chiffonage ' s innovation resulted specifically in Attack Pattern Delta and a maneuver in which the airspeeders ' harpoon and tow cables entangled and tripped the walkers ' legs . Skywalker and Rogue Group employed Chiffonage ' s tactics at the Battle of Hoth against the invading line of AT - ATs with limited success , downing several walkers throughout the engagement . Chiffonage was captured trying to flee Hoth when his escape transport was stopped at an Imperial checkpoint . Biography . Alliance High Command . Beryl Chiffonage was a noted military tactician of the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Galactic Civil War . His service with the Rebellion dated back to the earliest years of the Alliance ' s struggles against the Galactic Empire , prior to the Battle of Yavin . His duties and assignment locales were typically kept confidential in accordance with his close work with Alliance High Command . Chiffonage ' s High Command duties regularly included helping to devise offensive and defensive strategic patterns for a particular Rebel base , working alongside notable Alliance leadership figures such as Generals Jan Dodonna and Carlist Rieekan . He also worked closely with Alliance Intelligence under Chief of Intelligence Airen Cracken as part of the Task Force on Alliance Security , compiling reports on individuals posing significant threats to the Alliance . As of 2 ABY , Chiffonage , a lieutenant colonel , was instrumental in the execution of several Alliance operations , including the Engagement at Jestan . At some point before the end of 2 ABY , Chiffonage had a run - in with mercenaries on Liaq . Risiev Credal and the Rogue Doctrine . Prior to 0 ABY , Chiffonage was stationed at High Command ' s headquarters on the planet Dantooine when Risiev Credal , an up - and - coming tactical prodigy in his own right , was transferred to the base . For some time Chiffonage trained Credal , who was considered to be one of the Alliance ' s future leaders , in tactics for a countless variety of scenarios , including the Dsalisn Theories on low atmosphere combat and the urban tactics used on Thyrsus . Credal ' s work reflected the expert tutelage under which he learned . Chiffonage and Credal , together with Luke Skywalker , leader of the elite Rogue Squadron , developed a series of innovative tactical maneuvers for T - 47 airspeeder squadrons in the event of attack from Imperial walkers . Known as the " Rogue Doctrine , " which consisted of three individual strategic components , drawn together from the collective experience of all Rogue Squadron pilots over the years , the trio ' s efforts set the standard for combat airspeeder tactics . Specifically , Chiffonage and Credal devised Attack Pattern Delta , a veritable game of " chicken , " in which a group of speeders approached a walker in single - line formation in order to give the walker a single target at which to fire . While the walker could only track a single speeder at a time , the other speeders were offered a clear shot and a clean getaway . But perhaps the most difficult element of the doctrine to execute , as devised by Chiffonage and Skywalker , was inspired by a group of primitives . Chiffonage realized that walkers were too large and well - armed for most Rebel weaponry , so he dreamed of a way to turn the walkers ' greatest strength — their size — into their greatest weakness . Chiffonage knew that the walkers could potentially be crushed under their own weight if the Rebels could only find a way to trip them . During an expedition to the primitive planet Verig , Chiffonage found his answer in Verig ' s native nomadic hunters , who used a bola - like weapon , a long rope with stones tied to each end , to trip the giant , elephant ine Pryss - creature s . Drawing upon what he learned from Verig , as well as previous Rebel operations on the planets Corellia and Balmorra , in which Rebel pilots improvised a way to trip advancing All Terrain Armored Transports by using the tow cables of T - 47 airspeeders , a last - ditch technique , Chiffonage personally designed a special high - powered harpoon attached to a flexisteel tow cable and fusion disc for use in a unique tactical maneuver of his own . Attached to the rear of the T - 47 , the resultant harpoon and tow cable would be used to tangle a walker ' s legs and trip it to the ground , effectively neutralizing the war machine . For reasons neither High Command nor Intelligence could begin to understand , in 2 ABY Credal jumped into hyperspace while overseeing patrols in the Anoat system , never to be heard from again . Although Intelligence believed him to be a traitor , Chiffonage filed a report for the Task Force on Alliance Security regarding Credal , praising his contributions and expressing his expectations for Credal ' s eventual return . Battle of Hoth . As of 3 ABY , Chiffonage , since promoted to commander , served with High Command under Rieekan at the secret Echo Base on the planet Hoth , and was regularly stationed in the base ' s command center as a controller . He was present in the command center , working with Princess Leia Organa , when Han Solo reported to Rieekan of his need to leave the Alliance in order to settle personal issues . When an Imperial Viper probe droid discovered Echo Base shortly thereafter , Rieekan ordered an immediate evacuation of the facility . Chiffonage and Skywalker knew the Alliance would be facing Imperial walkers in the imminent engagement , and to that end they planned to utilize the tactics of Rogue Doctrine with the base ' s T - 47 airspeeders to muster what offense they could in delaying the Imperial attack . During the Battle of Hoth , Skywalker and Rogue Group discovered that the thick armored hulls of the Imperial AT - ATs were impervious to their speeders ' blaster cannons , nullifying whatever effects Attack Pattern Delta may have had . Instead , Skywalker ordered the Rogues to use their harpoons and tow cables to trip the walkers ' legs in a last - ditch effort to stop their advance . Although the Rebellion suffered a major defeat at Hoth , Chiffonage ' s designed maneuvers resulted in the downing of several AT - ATs during the battle , the success of which the Rebels owed directly to the nomads of Verig . While a significant portion of Echo Base ' s command staff succeeded in evacuating the planet and slipping by the Imperial blockade in orbit , Chiffonage was captured when his escape transport attempted to pass through an Imperial checkpoint . Tow cable legacy . Although Chiffonage was credited with coming up with the idea to use tow cables to trip the AT - AT walkers on Hoth , a young Imperial stormtrooper recruit , Davin Felth , hypothesized a similar maneuver years before in 0 BBY during an AT - AT training exercise . Felth suggested to then - Colonel Maximilian Veers , head of the Imperial AT - AT program , that the walkers ' legs were particularly vulnerable to being tangled and tripped with a cable . While Felth ' s discovery greatly impressed Veers , he kept the information private and buried Felth in the Imperial Stormtrooper Corps to prevent the secret from damaging his career , which was closely linked to the success of the walkers . Ironically , Veers would face Chiffonage ' s identical tactic years later at Hoth , to somewhat devastating effects . Wedge Antilles , the first pilot to down an AT - AT at Hoth using the maneuver , would reuse the tactic several months later to trip three more walkers at the Battle of Kothlis . Rogue Squadron helped to secure the plans to the second Death Star at that engagement . Personality and traits . Beryl Chiffonage displayed tactical brilliance during his career developing strategy for Alliance High Command . His abilities earned him assignments to the Rebel headquarters on Dantooine and Hoth , and he contributed to the success of several Alliance operations as well as helping to train the talented Risiev Credal . Chiffonage ' s intimate knowledge of Imperial battle tactics was crucial in developing the Rogue Doctrine with Credal and Luke Skywalker , and he personally designed the harpoon and tow cable , with inspiration from Verig ' s primitive natives and former Rogue Squadron operations , that would be attached to the rear of Echo Base ' s T - 47 airspeeders for use by Rebel gunners as a reserve defense against Imperial walkers . Prior to Alliance military briefings , Chiffonage would spend a great amount of time reminiscing about his early career with Airen Cracken and Credal , who would eagerly and intently listen to the stories , whether or not there were tactical lessons to be learned . Even after Credal abandoned the Alliance , although Chiffonage expressed that he would harshly reprimand his student , he also wished to tell him about his encounter with mercenaries on Liaq . Behind the scenes . The character of Beryl Chiffonage was first created for the 1988 West End Games board game " Assault on Hoth " , in which he is established as the innovative Rebel tactician who devises the harpoon and tow cable tactic used during the Battle of Hoth . Chiffonage was later included in the 1989 first edition of the West End Games sourcebook " " , which further expounds upon Chiffonage ' s involvement in the development of the Rebel tactics used at the Battle of Hoth , most notably Attack Pattern Delta and the harpoon and tow cable trick . Chiffonage ' s backstory was detailed in the 1995 " " supplement " Alliance Intelligence Reports " , which established the character as a valuable tactician of both Alliance High Command and Alliance Intelligence . The article " Who ' s Who in Echo Base " , written by Josh Radke for " Star Wars Insider 74 " , identifies Chiffonage as one of the Rebel extras present in the Echo Base command center working with Princess Leia Organa at the beginning of , retcon ning the film as the character ' s first appearance . Inconsistencies . " Alliance Intelligence Reports " presents an inconsistency regarding the character ' s gender . " Assault on Hoth " originally established Chiffonage as a male character , but the subsequent creation of " Alliance Intelligence Reports " contradicted this by identifying the character as female , the only source to do so . Radke ' s " Who ' s Who " article identifies Chiffonage as male — one of the real - life actors seen in " The Empire Strikes Back " — as does " The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia " , released in 2008 . Given the majority of sources , this article assumes that Chiffonage is indeed male and treats " Alliance Intelligence Reports " as a canon ical inconsistency .