The Clone Wars were one of the most brutal
conflicts in galactic history, and both the Republic and the Confederacy of Independent
Systems contributed to that brutality. While Separatists were responsible for the most gruesome
atrocities of the war, the Republic was far from innocent when it came to war crimes. The Republic
Military was permeated by the cynical outlook that any action taken to defeat the Confederacy
was justified. Many clones held this opinion, and were perfectly willing to lay waste to entire
planets for the sake of victory. In this video, we’re going to be talking about three such clone
units, the worst of the GAR’s psychopathic side. First things first, we have the Galactic
Marines, otherwise known as the 21st Nova Corps. Led by our least-favorite Jedi Master and
the extraordinarily harsh Commander Bacara, the Galactic Marines were among the best of
the best, known for their extreme dedication and their exceptional skills. They were
well known for their refusal to back down in fights against the Confederacy, even when
the odds were against them. On New Bornalex, after their experimental weapons malfunctioned,
they engaged an army of Super Battle Droids in hand-to-hand combat and won, while on Mygeeto,
during the longest battle of the war, they fought for extended periods to maintain the siege of one
of the Confederacy’s most important strongholds. Needless to say, the Galactic Marines were willing
to do absolutely anything for the sake of victory. The fact that they were able to maintain
the stalemate on Mygeeto speaks volumes on its own. That planet was one of the most
well-defended worlds in the entire Confederacy, and yet the Republic was able to keep up its
assault on the planet for nearly two years. This was in no small part due to the Galactic
Marines, who fought hard for every sliver of territory that Mygeeto’s droid defenders tried
to reclaim from them. It’s not much of a leap alone to say that they would have been willing
to totally destroy the planet before they would have retreated from it; hell, the battle had
already destroyed a lot of the planet anyway. This was, in no small part, due to Commander
Bacara, the leader of the Galactic Marines. Bacara, also known as CC-1138, was an
absolute hardass, known for his efficient leadership and his aggressiveness. He expected
nothing less than perfection from his men, and never accepted anything short of victory
in a battle, no matter what the cost was. If the cost of victory was slaughtering
the population of a whole planet, he would have accepted it without as much as a second
thought. In this, he took after Alpha-17, who he had retrained under as part of the ARC Trooper’s
first class of clone commanders. Alpha himself had repeatedly expressed a willingness to do anything
from murder the entire civilian government of Jabiim to blow up an entire generation of
infant clones, all for the sake of victory. Clearly, he taught at least some of the commanders
that went through his program that same mindset. Bacara, in turn, would have impressed this
mindset on the Galactic Marines as a whole. Taking inspiration from Alpha-17's program,
he put the Galactic Marines through his own form of retraining during the war, shaping
them into an efficient, elite force that thought and fought exactly as he
did. He micromanaged the unit, transferring out clones that didn’t meet
his standards without a second thought. Perfection was the only thing he accepted
from his troops, and a willingness to, as he surely would have put it, “do what needs to
be done” certainly would have been part of that. The 91st Mobile Reconnaissance Corps was
another elite clone unit, one of the most frequently deployed corps in Systems Army Alpha.
Originally, it was led by Commander Ponds, but after Ponds’ death in 21 BBY, it
came under the command of Commander Neyo, also known as CC-8826. The 91st served
with a number of Jedi Generals; Mace Windu, the High General in charge of Systems Army
Alpha, took direct command of the unit at times, while at other points it was led by
Jedi Masters Adi Gallia and Stass Allie. In terms of methods, the 91st Mobile
Reconnaissance Corps was a lot different from the Galactic Marines. As their name implied, they
were largely scouts, skilled in the use of light vehicles and hit-and-run tactics. They were also
known to be incredibly thorough, and, as a result, they were often employed in mop-up campaigns,
in which they hunted down and wiped out small pockets of Separatist resistance. Their most
well-known engagement was the Siege of Saleucami, following which Commander Neyo and his men
scoured the planet for Separatist survivors. The 91st might not seem all that bad on the
surface, but don’t be fooled. After all, WAC-47, the most annoying member of D-Squad,
was originally assigned to the 91st, so there was clearly something sinister
going on behind the scenes over there. In seriousness, the 91st wasn’t all that
bad originally. It was the influence of Commander Neyo that led to them taking a turn
for the worst. As with the Galactic Marines, the 91st was heavily influenced by its commanding
officer, and Commander Neyo had a heart of stone. Neyo was close friends with Commander Bacara,
and took after him in several respects. He wasn’t nearly as much of a hardass as
Bacara was, but he was just as cold-hearted, to the point where even his fellow clones
considered him frighteningly emotionless. He spoke little and felt little, and was known mostly for
his rather morbid personality. He was generally apathetic when it came to the lives of others,
and he would not have hesitated to turn a planet to glass if his higher-ups ordered it. If the need
arose, he could undoubtedly have turned the 91st Reconnaissance Corps’ trademark thoroughness at
hunting down Separatists against civilian targets, and there’s nothing to suggest that he
or his men would have hesitated to do so. But by far, the most brutal unit in the Grand Army
of the Republic was Commander Faie’s. We don’t know the exact name for this unit or much of its
history, but we can assume from its role in the Siege of Saleucami that it was a corps. Faie, the
unit’s brutal commanding officer, was extremely by-the-book, something that was originally
tempered by the Jedi General he served with, the legendary tactician Oppo Rancisis. Under Rancisis,
Faie and his men had done a lot of good work over the course of the Clone Wars. However, after
Rancisis’ death in the Siege of Saleucami, Faie’s unit was put under the command of Quinlan Vos, and
from that point forward, things started to sour. Vos hated Faie, and for good reason. Faie only
cared about one thing, and one thing only: following his orders. He didn’t care
about his fellow clones or even himself, much less the lives of civilians. If he
was ordered to kill all the children in the galaxy with his bare hands, he not only
would’ve done it, but he also would’ve become angry and indignant at anyone who tried
to tell him he shouldn’t be doing it. The rest of his unit wasn’t quite as extreme,
but they were all by-the-book and dedicated to their orders as well, and they would
have done anything Faie ordered them to. Vos led Commander Faie’s unit in the Battle of
Kashyyyk, alongside Luminara Unduli and the 41st Elite Corps. Faie’s men were responsible
for reconnaissance before the battle, and for leading an attack on the droid
army’s flank during the battle proper. During the reconnaissance mission, Faie discovered
that the Confederacy had set its sights on Kashyyyk because the Wookiees had astrographical
charts that would give them an edge in the war. The Wookiees had kept these charts secret from
the Republic as well. When he learned this, Faie nearly started a shootout in the
Republic command center, first by insisting that the Wookiees hand over the charts and then by
threatening to arrest Wookiee leaders for treason. When Order 66 came through, Faie shot Luminara Unduli at point-blank range
and then ordered one of his tanks to fire on Vos. Vos, however, survived. Faie was enraged when he
learned this, as it meant that he hadn’t actually carried out his orders, and he sent whole platoons
of his men into Kashyyyk’s deadly jungles to hunt for him. When his men failed, Faie resorted
to more desperate measures to lure Vos out. He lured Vos to his location, and then
threatened to call an airstrike on his location if Vos didn’t surrender, which would have killed
him, Vos, and an entire Wookiee village nearby. We don’t just think that Faie and his
men would have been willing to slaughter civilians - we know that they were. They came
incredibly close to blowing up a whole village, and that wasn’t even to win a battle - it was
to kill one man. If Vos hadn’t leapt out of the trees and carved out Faie’s sad excuse for a heart
with his lightsaber, a whole lot of Wookiees would have died. Faie and the troops under his command
were examples of the absolute worst of the Grand Army of the Republic, living proof that following
orders doesn’t necessarily put you in the right. So, those were the three most psychopathic
clone corps in the Grand Army of the Republic. But what do you think? Are there
other clone units you’d like us to take a look at? Feel free to post
your thoughts in the comments below.
