Book Choice: Ten Years Since The Revolution. 10/10.

Nazis 1st Cossack Division.

1st Cossack Division
Active	1943 - 1945
Country	Nazi Germany
Allegiance	Adolf Hitler
Type	Cavalry
Size	Division
Part of	XV SS Cossack Cavalry Corps
Engagements	World War II
Commanders
Notable commanders	Helmuth von Pannwitz
Insignia
Identification symbol
Identification symbol	Don Cossack insignia

The 1st Cossack Division (German: 1. Kosaken-Kavallerie-Division) was a Russian Cossack division of the German Army that served during World War II. It was created on the Eastern Front mostly out of Don Cossacks already serving in the Wehrmacht, those who escaped from the advancing Red Army and Soviet POWs. In 1945, the division was transferred to the Waffen SS. At the end of the war the unit ceased to exist.

Military history

Upon the formation of the unit in April of 1943 the Division was dispatched to Croatia, where they were placed under the command of the Second Panzer Army and were used to provide rear area security to the army.

The Division's first fighting engagement was on October 12, 1943, when the unit was dispatched against Yugoslav partisans in Fruška Gora Mountains. In the operation the Cossacks aided by 15 tanks and 1 armoured car captured the village of Beocin with the partisan HQ. Subsequently the unit was used to protect the Zagreb-Belgrade railroad and the Sava valley. Several regiments of the division took part in several anti-partisan operations and guarded the Sarajevo railroad against the partisans. As part of a wide anti-partisan operation Napfkuchen the Cossack division was transferred to Croatia, where it fought against partisans and chetniks in 1944. In 1944 the unit saw heavy action in Yugoslavia and suffered losses when Siberian Cossacks 2nd Regiment was surrounded by the partisans and held on for several days until other Cossack regiments were able to provide relief and break the encirclement.

The Cossacks' first engagement against the Red Army happened in December of 1944 near Pitomaca. The fighting resulted in Soviet withdrawal from the area. In January of 1945 the 1st Cossack Division together with the 2nd Cossack Division was transferred to the Waffen-SS. As 1. SS-Kosaken-Kavallerie-Division it became part of the newly formed XV SS Cossack Cavalry Corps.

Russian Cossacks in Wehrmacht uniform.

At the end of the war Cossacks of the division found themselves in Austria and surrendered to British troops. Even though they were given assurances that they would not be turned over to the Soviets, they nevertheless were forcibly removed from the compound and transferred to the USSR. This event became known as the Betrayal of the Cossacks. Most of the Cossacks were executed for treason.

Commanders

Lieutenant-General Helmuth von Pannwitz
Colonel Hans-Joachim von Schultz
Colonel von Baath
Colonel Alexander von Boesse
Colonel Konstantin Wagner

Order of battle

The 1st Cossack Division was created on August 4, 1943 by combining the Cossack Platow Cavalry Regiment of von Pannwitz with the Jungschults Cavalry Regiment. The 1st Cossack Division was composed of the following units:

1st Brigade

(under command of Colonel Wagner)

Regiment I: Don Cossacks (Don-Kosaken Reiter-Regiment 1)
Regiment II: Siberian Cossacks (Sibirisches Kosaken-Reiter-Regiment 2)
Regiment IV: Kuban Cossacks (Kuban-Kosaken-Reiter-Regiment 4)
Caucasus Artillery Battalion

2nd Brigade

(under command of Colonel von Schulz)

Regiment III: Kuban Cossacks (Kuban-Kosaken-Reiter-Regiment 3)
Regiment V: Don Cossacks (Don-Kosaken-Regiment 5)
Regiment VI: Terek Cossacks (Terek-Kosaken-Regiment 6)
Caucasus Artillery Battalion

Auxiliary troops

55th Recon Battalion
55th Artillery Regiment
55th Engineer Battalion
55th Signal Battalion
55th Supply Section
55th Medical Battalion

The total numerical strength of the Division was 13.000 Cossacks and 4.500 Germans