Nicknamed the Spiders (Croatian: Pauci; singular: Pauk), the brigade was named after one of its commanders, General Andrija Matijaš Pauk [hr], who was killed by in fighting with Army of Republika Srpska forces in Mrkonjić Grad, Bosnia and Herzegovina on 9 October 1995, during Operation Southern Move, the final action of the Croatian army in the war.

At first, the brigade was composed of young policemen (130 of them) who had left the police to receive military training for special purposes in Kumrovec under the command of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

A majority of them were from Livno, Tomislavgrad, Kupres, Široki Brijeg, Trebižat, Ljubuški, Stolac and Bugojno in Western Herzegovina and Central Bosnia.

The 2nd Company was, formally, without soldiers, who got an order to disband Yugoslav People's Army, form a unit and go to their first task in Kruševo near Zadar.

After the liberation of Dubrovnik and actions in the Southern Front, the unit was involved in Operation Maslenica which they finished successfully.

During the Croatian War of Independence, 193 members of this brigade were killed, and their pictures were added to the memorial site in the Sveti križ chapel of the Dračevac barracks in Split.