It was created on the Eastern Front mostly with Don Cossacks already serving in the Wehrmacht, those who escaped from the advancing Red Army and Soviet POWs.

[4] 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.

[4] Other officers were the sons of Cossack émigrés who had served in the armies of France, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria before the war.

In the operation the Cossacks, aided by 15 tanks and one armored car, captured the village of Beocin, a Partisan HQ.

As part of a wide security sweep, Napfkuchen, the Cossack division was transferred to Croatia, where it fought against Yugoslav Partisans and the Soviet Army in 1944-1945.

[9] 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 Adolf Hitler himself.

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.