The "18" in its name is derived from the initials of the Nazi German leader Adolf Hitler: A and H are the first and eighth letters of the Latin alphabet.

[11] In early 1992, the far-right British National Party (BNP) formed Combat 18 as a stewarding group whose purpose was to protect its events from anti-fascists.

Combat 18 is an openly neo-Nazi group that is devoted to violence and hostile to electoral politics, and for this reason Sargent split decisively from the BNP in 1993.

[16] Between 1998 and 2000, dozens of Combat 18 members in the United Kingdom and Ireland were arrested on various charges during dawn raids by the police.

[19] The document issued by the White Wolves announcing their formation has been attributed to David Myatt,[20] whose Practical Guide to Aryan Revolution allegedly inspired the nailbomber David Copeland,[21][22] who was jailed for life in 2000 after being found guilty of causing a series of bombings in April 1999 that killed three people and injured many others.

A group calling itself the Racial Volunteer Force split from C18 in 2002, although it has retained close links to its parent organisation.

[26] On 18 June 2009, graves belonging to numerous people, including Provisional Irish Republican Army hunger-striker Bobby Sands were desecrated with C18 graffiti.

[30] On 6 March 2018, eight members of Combat 18 were arrested in Athens, Greece, accused of multiple attacks on immigrants and activists.

[31] An alleged member of the German branch of Combat 18 named Stephen Ernst was the suspect in the case of the murdered local politician Walter Lübcke of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany.

[33] On 23 January 2020, the 75th anniversary of Allied forces liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp, the German Minister of the Interior banned Combat 18 nationwide in Germany.

More than 200 police officers carried out raids in six German states seizing mobile phones, computers, unspecified weaponry, Nazi memorabilia, and propaganda material.

The most high-profile incident involving Combat 18 members in football came on 15 February 1995 when violence broke out in the stands at Lansdowne Road in the international friendly between Ireland and England.

[35] Before the 1998 FIFA World Cup, 26 Seaburn Casuals (Sunderland AFC supporters) hooligans were arrested in a police raid after a military-issue smoke bomb was let off at a local pub after a fight with bouncers.

In September 2020, the court rejected the latter request, stating that the public interest in the immediate enforcement of the ban prevailed over the organisation's interests, further noting that the challenge against the ban will likely not succeed as the court's summary examination of the merits suggests that the organisation's activities are indeed directed against the constitutional order.