The 1st Cossack Cavalry Division () was a

Cossack The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Rus ...

division of the

German Army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

that served during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It was created on the Eastern Front mostly with

Don Cossacks Don Cossacks (, ) or Donians (, ), are Cossacks who settled along the middle and lower Don River (Russia), Don. Historically, they lived within the former Don Cossack Host (, ), which was either an independent or an autonomous democratic rep ...

already serving in the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

, those who escaped from the advancing

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

and Soviet

POWs A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

. In 1944, the division was transferred to the

Waffen SS The (; ) was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with volunteers and conscripts from both German-occupied Europe and unoccupied lands. ...

, becoming part of the

XV SS Cossack Cavalry Corps The XV SS Cossack Cavalry Corps was a World War II cavalry corps of the Waffen-SS, the armed wing of the German Nazi Party, primarily recruited from Cossacks. It was originally known as the XIV SS Cossack Cavalry Corps from September 1944, after H ...

, established in February 1945. At the end of the war, the unit ceased to exist. It was one of two cossack cavalry divisions, the other being the 2nd Cossack Cavalry Division.

Origin

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

authorised the formation of the division on 6 April 1943, ordering that all Cossacks serving in the Wehrmacht to be concentrated into the division.

Formation and training

The division was formed and trained at Mielau (

Mława Mława (; ''Mlave'') is a town in north-eastern Poland with 30,403 inhabitants in 2020. It is the capital of Mława County. It is situated in the Masovian Voivodeship. During the invasion of Poland in 1939, the battle of Mława was fought to the ...

) in the spring-summer of 1943. The Cossacks brought their wives and children with them, forcing the Germans to establish another camp to house the dependents. The division was formed starting 4 August 1943 by merging the Platow and von Jungschulz Cossack regiments under the command of the Reiterverband Pannwitz, which had all existed since 1942. To these, additional new regiments were added. Some other units brought in were the Cossack Reconnaissance Battalion, led by Don Cossack Nikolai Nazarenko, the Cossack detachment of 600 led by Ivan Kononov, also a Don Cossack, and a force of

Terek Cossacks The Terek Cossack Host was a Cossack host created in 1577 from free Cossacks who resettled from the Volga to the Terek River. The local aboriginal Terek Cossacks joined this Cossack host later. In 1792 it was included in the Caucasus Line Co ...

led by ''

ataman Ataman (variants: ''otaman'', ''wataman'', ''vataman''; ; ) was a title of Cossack and haidamak leaders of various kinds. In the Russian Empire, the term was the official title of the supreme military commanders of the Cossack armies. The Ukra ...

'' Nikolai Kulakkov of the Terek host.

Composition

Many of the German officers were

Baltic German Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are Germans, ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950), their resettlement in 1945 after the end ...

émigrés who possessed the necessary knowledge of Russian. However, owing to a shortage of officers with the necessary Russian language skills, the Wehrmacht was forced to relax its policy against accepting émigré officers, and a number of Cossack émigré officers living in

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and the

Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was a partially-annexation, annexed territory of Nazi Germany that was established on 16 March 1939 after the Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945), German occupation of the Czech lands. The protector ...

(modern Czechia) were recruited into the division. Other officers were the sons of Cossack émigrés who had served in the armies of

and

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

before the war. A disproportionate number of the German officers were cavalrymen, and Austrians were over-represented as it was felt that Austrians were more "tactful" in dealing with Slavs than the

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

ns.

Anti-Partisan operations

Initially organized to fight the

southern Russia Southern Russia or the South of Russia ( rus, Юг России, p=juk rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a Colloquialism, colloquial term for the southernmost geographic portion of European Russia. The term is generally used to refer to the region of Russia's So ...

, the division was soon deployed to the puppet

Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia (, NDH) was a World War II–era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist Italy. It was established in parts of Axis occupation of Yugoslavia, occupied Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941, ...

, where they were placed under the command of the Second Panzer Army and were used to protect the railroad line from

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

through

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

. Some units were also used to fight Partisans. The division's first fighting engagement was on 12 October 1943, when it was dispatched against

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odr ...

in the

Fruška Gora Fruška gora ( sr-Cyrl, Фрушка гора) is a mountain in Syrmia, with most of the mountain being part of Serbia and its westernmost edge extending into eastern Croatia. The Serbian part of the mountain forms the country's oldest National p ...

Mountains. In the operation the Cossacks, aided by 15 tanks and one armored car, captured the village of Beocin, a Partisan HQ. In that operation many villages were burned, including a monastery on Fruška Gora, and around 300 innocent

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * Pertaining to Serbia in Southeast Europe; in particular **Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans ** Serbian language ** Serbian culture **Demographics of Serbia, includes other ethnic groups within the co ...

villagers were killed. Subsequently, the unit was used to protect the Zagreb-Belgrade railroad and the

Sava The Sava, is a river in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. From its source in Slovenia it flows through Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally reac ...

Valley. Several regiments of the division took part in security warfare (

Bandenbekämpfung In Military history of Germany, German military history, (), also referred to as Nazi security warfare during World War II, refers to the concept and military doctrine of Counterinsurgency, countering Resistance movement, resistance or insurrec ...

) and guarded the Sarajevo railroad. As part of a wide security sweep, ''Napfkuchen'', the Cossack division was transferred to

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, where it fought against Yugoslav Partisans and the Soviet Army in 1944-1945. The Cossacks felt closer to this Serbian minority in

NDH The Independent State of Croatia (, NDH) was a World War II–era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. It was established in parts of occupied Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941, after the invasion by the Axis powers. Its territory cons ...

than they did to the

Croatian people The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They also f ...

. Due to the Cossack identification with the Serbian cause, the Cossacks concluded an unofficial truce with Tito’s rival, the royalist Serbian resistance leader, General

Dragoljub Mihailović Dragoljub ( sr-cyr, Драгољуб) is a Serbian masculine given name, derived from Slavic ''-drag, drag-'' ("dear, beloved") and ''ljub'' ("love, to like"), both very common in Slavic dithematic names. It roughly means "dear love". It may refer ...

, who regarded Tito and the Ustaše as a more serious enemy than the Germans. In Croatia the division quickly established a reputation for undisciplined and ruthless behavior, not only towards the partisans but also the civilian population, prompting Croatian authorities to complain to the Germans and finally to

himself. Besides raping women, killing people and plundering and burning towns suspected of harboring partisans and their supporters, the division used telegraph poles along the railroad tracks for mass hangings as a warning to the partisans and others. Although the behavior of the Cossacks was not as ruthless as portrayed by Partisan propaganda, nevertheless during its first two months of deployment in Croatia, special divisional courts-martial imposed at least 20 death sentences in each of the four regiments for related crimes. The Cossacks' first engagement against the Red Army occurred in December 1944 near

Pitomača Pitomača is a village and a municipality in Croatia in the Virovitica–Podravina County. In the 2011 census, it had a total population of 10,059, in the following settlements: * Dinjevac, population 458 * Grabrovnica, population 405 * Klad ...

. The fighting resulted in Soviet withdrawal from the area.

Transfer to Waffen-SS

In December 1944 the 1st Cossack Division was transferred to the

Waffen-SS The (; ) was the military branch, combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscr ...

and reorganized by the

SS Führungshauptamt The ''SS Führungshauptamt'' () () was the operational headquarters of the SS during the later years of the Nazi era in Germany. The office's tasks included the administration of the SS-Junker Schools, of medical services, of logistics, and o ...

. Until 30 April 1945, together with the 2nd Cossack Division it became part of the newly formed

Aftermath

At the end of the war Cossacks of the division retreated into

and surrendered to

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

troops. They were promised safety by the British but were subsequently forcibly transferred to the USSR. The majority of those who did not manage to escape went to labour camps in the

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

. The German and Cossack leadership were tried, sentenced to death and executed in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

in early 1947. The remaining officers and other ranks who survived the labour camps were released after

Stalin's Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretary of the Communist Party from 1922 to 1 ...

death in 1953.

Commanders

*Lt. Gen. Helmuth von Pannwitz (Sep 1943 – Feb 1945) **Col. Hans-Joachim von Schultz, Chief of Staff *Col. von Baath (Feb – ? 1945) *Col. Alexander von Boesse (1945) *Col. Konstantin Wagner (1945)

Order of battle

In 1944 the division was composed of the following units:

1st Cossack Cavalry Brigade ''Don''

*1st (Don) Cossack Cavalry Regiment *2nd (Ural) Cossack Cavalry Regiment *3rd (Combined) Cossack Cavalry Regiment *Cossack Horse Artillery Regiment ''Don''

2nd Cossack Cavalry Brigade

*4th (Kuban) Cossack Cavalry Regiment *5th (Don) Cossack Cavalry Regiment *6th (Terek) Cossack Cavalry Regiment *Cossack Horse Artillery Regiment ''Kuban''

Divisional units

*55th Reconnaissance Battalion *55th (Kuban) Cossack Horse Artillery Regiment *1st Cossack Engineer Battalion *55th Cossack Engineer Battalion *1st Signal Battalion

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* * * * *