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Info courtesy of Michal Warczakowski - Eastern European WWII Armed Forces

1st Cossack Division

A Cossack cavalry regiment had a staff of four to five officers and 12 enlisted men. There was also a communications section of 70 men and an anti-armor squadron. Each regiment consisted of two battalions, while each battalion was made up of four squadrons. A Cossack cavalry regiment had 2 000 men with a German cadre of 150 men. The divisional staff had a cultural and propaganda platoon composed of three sections.

Recognized total numerical strength - 13 000 Cossacks and 4 500 Germans

Note: There was also a 1 000-strong Reserve and Replacement Regiment that was permanently stationed in France, albeit it was still formally part of the 1st Cossack Division.

The 1st Cossack Division arrived in Yugoslavia at the end of September, 1943. It spend most of its time in Yugoslavia (between October of 1943 and the fall of 1944) participating in anti-partisan operations in Slavonia, north-western Bosnia, and north-western Serbia. The Cossacks quickly gained a reputation of being proficient in anti-partisan warfare, despite of some defections to the partisans and frosty relations with the NDH authorities. The Cossack troopers almost always fought as dragoons, riding on horseback to the battle and then dismounting to fight.

Cmdr: General Helmuth von Pannwitz Chief of Staff: Oberstleutnant von Schultz
1st Cossack Cavalry Brigade (Don) Oberst Freiherr Hans von Wolff	1st Don Cossack Regiment Oberstleutnant d. R. Burggraf zu Dohna
	2nd Siberian Cossack Regiment Oberstleutnant Freiherr von Nolcken
	4th Kuban Cossack Regiment Oberstleutnant Freiherr Paul von Wolff
	1st Horsedrawn Cossack Artillery Battalion Hauptmann von Eisenhardt-Rothe
2nd Cossack Cavalry Brigade (Caucasus) Oberst Alexander von Bosse	3rd Kuban Cossack Regiment Oberstleutnant d. R. von Jungschulz
	5th Don Cossack Regiment Oberstleutnant Ivan Kononov (the sole Russian regimental commander)
	6th Terek Cossack Regiment Oberstleutnant Heinrich-Detloff von Kalben
	2nd Horsedrawn Cossack Artillery Battalion Hauptmann Graf Kottulinsky
55th Recon Battalion - composed entirely of Germans Rittmeister Weil
55th Artillery Regiment (Horsedrawn) - six batteries organized into two battalions
55th Engineer Battalion - four companies Hauptmann Jans
55th Signal Battalion - composed entirely of Germans Hauptmann Schneider
55th Supply Section - two motorized and three horsedrawn columns Rittmeister d.R. Brocker
55th Medical Battalion Oberststabartz d.R. Dr. Grass
Veterinary Company Stab Veterinar Dr. Stabenow

Battles & Campaigns

• Fruska-Gora
• 13-17 Oct Operation ARNIM
• 20-27 Oct - Wildsau I, Vinkovci, Tovarnik, Bosut
• Ferkel
• 7-29 Dec - Operation PANTHER
• Weichnachtmann
• 7-29 Dec - Operation WOLF
• Jan - Operation BRANDFACKEL
• 25 Jun - Operation BIENENHAUS
• 26 Jun - Operation BLITZ
• 10-19 Aug - Operation WILDFANG
• 25-29 Sep - Operation STURM
• 6-23 Mar - Operation WALDTEUFEL

Reference

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