Battle of Mandalore ( Yuuzhan Vong War ) In the year 29 ABY , a battle was fought on the planet Mandalore , between an attacking force of Yuuzhan Vong warriors and the Mandalorian inhabitants of the world . During the early portion of the Yuuzhan Vong ' s invasion of the galaxy , the Mandalorians ' leader , Boba Fett , had officially aligned the Mandalorians with the extra - galactic aliens under the provision Mandalorian space be spared from their conquests ; however , Fett understood that the Yuuzhan Vong would eventually turn on the Mandalorians and secretly instructed his people to act as covert saboteurs and intelligence gatherers , turning over the information they collected to the New Republic . The Yuuzhan Vong eventually uncovered Fett ' s deception , and launched an assault on Mandalore , bombarding the planet with singularity ordnance and landing warriors by the thousand . The Mandalorians made use of underground tunnel networks and their fierce combat skills to engage the Yuuzhan Vong . At the town of Bralsin , the Mandalorians clashed with more than a thousand Yuuzhan Vong warriors , slaying them in droves . Though large swaths of forested land was leveled , and close to one and half million Mandalorians were killed by the battle ' s end , the Mandalorians succeeded in driving the Yuuzhan Vong from their world , becoming the only people of the galaxy to defeat the invaders on their own . The aftermath of the battle left Mandalore severely scarred , and the planet ' s infrastructure destitute until the discovery of a lode of " beskar " iron ore that had been exposed by the Yuuzhan Vong ' s bombardment . The highly valuable metal led to a period of economic resurgence for the Mandalorians , allowing Mandalore to make a steady recovery from the devastation the battle had left in its wake . Prelude . When the Yuuzhan Vong set out from their home galaxy to conquer a new one , they sent ahead a scout by the name of Nom Anor to make preparations that would allow their invasion to proceed more easily . Understanding the potential the Mandalorians had as allies , Anor made contact under the alias of " Udelen " ; he first approached the bounty hunter Goran Beviin , alone , contracting the mercenary for an assassination against a politician on Ter Abbes . Satisfied with the display of Mandalorian competence Beviin showed upon completing the assignment , Anor met with the reigning " Mand ' alor " — the traditional leader of the Mandalorian clans — Boba Fett to contract ongoing Mandalorian mercenary assistance in his secretive goals . Anor ' s true nature was revealed in 25 ABY , when he gathered Fett and a small squadron of Mandalorian - piloted starfighters to witness the arrival of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet . Confronted with the truth of the Yuuzhan Vong ' s extra - galactic invasion , Fett negotiated the Mandalorians ' continued support in exchange for immunity for the Mandalore sector . However , while the Yuuzhan Vong and the galaxy at large believed the Mandalorians to be allied with the invaders , Fett ordered the Mandalorian people to covertly gather intelligence on the aliens ' bio - techonology and sabotage their efforts . Fett , himself , forged a secret relationship with the New Republic Intelligence agent Kubariet , after rescuing the Jedi Knight from a Yuuzhan Vong subaltern during their attack on Birgis . The subaltern was killed , and Fett promised to pass on what intelligence his people collected to the New Republic through Kubariet , so long as the Mandalorians were not publicly named as the source of the information . Despite these precautions , the Yuuzhan Vong eventually uncovered Fett ' s deception , and set out to wreak their vengeance on the planet Mandalore . The battle . In 29 ABY , Yuuzhan Vong forces from the already conquered world of Bandomeer launched an assault on Mandalore . Unlike other planets the Yuuzhan Vong had invaded with the intention to terraform them to their own specifications , the Yuuzhang Vong attacked Mandalore with the single purpose of destroying the Mandalorians . From orbit , the Yuuzhan Vong ' s warships dropped singularity ordnance indiscriminately , blowing massive craters in the surface of Mandalore . Large swaths of woodlands were flattened , including the forests that surrounded Mandalore ' s capital city , Keldabe . Whole settlements of domains built into the trunks and branches of ancient veshok trees were obliterated in their entirety , and the buildings that comprised Keldabe sustained significant damage during the attack . Once fertile farmland was poisoned and salted , in an attempt to render it unusable . The Mandalorians largely survived the orbital assault through the use of a network of underground tunnels that extended from beneath a number of their homes and structures , and into the mountains far away . When the Yuuzhan Vong deployed their warriors to the surface , the Mandalorians struck back , using the tunnels and their sheer martial ability to combat the Yuuzhan Vong . More than a thousand Yuuzhan Vong warriors engaged the Mandalorians in the small Keldabe suburb of Bralsin . Despite the area ' s poor defensive capabilities , the Mandalorians fought and defeated them in a massacre that would leave an imprint in the Force for more than a decade after . The Mandalorian soldier Goran Beviin , the first to make contact with the Yuuzhan Vong , killed several of their warriors at Bralsin with his " beskad " saber . Legions of Mandalorian supercommandos , native soldiers , and the Mandalorian Protectors led by Boba Fett , fought to protect Mandalore from the Yuuzhan Vong , eventually defeating and repelling the invaders . When the battle finally came to an end , close to one and a half million Mandalorians were dead , and though the Yuuzhan Vong death toll was higher still , Mandalore ' s population had been reduced by nearly a third . Aftermath . Regardless of the severe loss of life , the Mandalorians became known throughout the galaxy as the only people to defeat the Yuuzhan Vong on their own . Having turned openly hostile against the Mandalorians , Boba Fett led the Mandalorian Protectors against the Yuuzhan Vong in defense of the galaxy , defeating the Yuuzhan Vong at Gyndine , liberating Tholatin from their control , and during the battle at Caluula Station , the Mandalorian Protectors made the Yuuzhan Vong fear the power of Mandalore . In spite of the Mandalorians ' role in fighting the Yuuzhan Vong , when the war was over , Mandalore did not receive any reconstruction aid from the Galactic Alliance , the newly risen galactic government formed during the conflict from a restructuring of the New Republic . More than ten years after the war ' s end , Mandalore ' s population remained largely depleted , many of its farms laid fallow , and tracts of land were still barren and blackened . At the battlefield of Bralsin , the bodies of the dead Yuuzhan Vong were buried , though their bones often washed up following a heavy rain . Keldabe ' s damaged buildings were mostly repaired over time , though the hundred - meter - tall tower headquarters of the MandalMotors company retained battle scarring a decade after the Yuuzhan Vong ' s assault . This atmosphere gave birth to the " kadikla " movement , espousing the need to place Mandalore first and concentrate on its reconstruction . In 40 ABY , during a meeting of the clans at MandalMotors Hall in Keldabe , proponents of " kadikla " persuaded " Mand ' alor " Boba Fett to recall two million Mandalorians from across the galaxy to rebuild the damage and revitalize the poisoned farms . At the " Mand ' alor " call , Mandalorians came by the hundreds , and upon approach to the planet , a pair of Mandalorians — one a geologist , and one a minerals engineer — discovered that the Yuuzhan Vong ' s singularity ordnance had exposed an enormous lode of " beskar " iron ore north of the city of Enceri . The " beskar " lode led to an era of economic resurgence for Mandalore , the Yuuzhan Vong ' s attack ironically strengthening the Mandalorian people . Behind the scenes . The Yuuzhan Vong ' s attack against Mandalore was first introduced to " Star Wars " canon via a mention in the Star Wars Insider article " The History of the Mandalorians " , author ed by Abel G . Peña and published March 2005 as part of the Insider magazine ' s eightieth issue . The battle and it ' s aftermath were later mentioned in Karen Traviss ' " Legacy of the Force " novels " " and " " , and alluded to it in her e - novella , " " . Jason Fry and Daniel Wallace ' s reference book , " The Essential Atlas " , also makes note of the battle as part of the planetary entry for Mandalore , as does " The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia " in its informational entry on Mandalore .