In late 1944, it fought against the Red Army during the Belgrade Offensive, later withdrawing to Bosnia and Slovenia as the German forces retreated from Yugoslavia and Greece.

After Shteifon′s death in Zagreb, the Independent State of Croatia, on 30 April 1945, Russian Colonel Anatoly Rogozhin took over and led his troops farther north to surrender to the British in southern Austria.

[1] General Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel relocated 25,000 of his Southern White Army to Yugoslavia through negotiations with the Yugoslav government in 1921.

[4] The Germans selected General Milan Nedić, a pre-war politician who was known to have pro-Axis leanings, to lead the collaborationist Government of National Salvation in the German-occupied territory of Serbia.

[5] Over the course of the uprising in Serbia in the summer of 1941, communist-led partisans killed approximately 300 Russian émigrés and injured many more, sometimes in acts of vengeance.

It was established by an order of the German Military Commander in Serbia, General der Flieger Heinrich Danckelmann, with the agreement of the Nedić regime.

[8] The key German personality involved in organising the Corps was Danckelmann's chief of staff, Oberst Erich Kewisch.

[12] Two days after the formation of his Corps, the Gestapo arrested him,[13] and command passed to Lieutenant General Boris Shteifon,[11] who was said to have had "warm and friendly relations with [Milan] Nedić".

[16] At first, the group was an independent force reporting to the German plenipotentiary general for economic affairs, NSFK-Obergruppenführer Franz Neuhausen.

[17] Although its ultimate aim was to help defeat the communist forces in the Soviet Union, the Corps was used almost exclusively to fight the Partisans in areas of occupied Yugoslavia, initially in a defensive role.

[18] Between the autumn of 1941 and the spring of 1944, the Corps was primarily responsible for protecting weapons factories, mines, roads, and railroads throughout occupied Serbia in accordance with priorities established by the German High Command.

[18] Russian émigrés living in Bulgaria, the Axis puppet Independent State of Croatia (NDH) and Hungary also came to Belgrade to join the force.

[19] The 1st Regiment was initially deployed in Loznica, Ljubovija and other towns along the Drina river, which formed the western border of the occupied territory.

[19] The 3rd Regiment was established in Banjica near Belgrade on 8 January 1942, placed under the command of Colonel Shapilov,[26] and deployed to Kosovska Mitrovica near the Trepča mines in the south,[27] where it was operationally subordinated to the Bulgarian 1st Occupation Corps.

[24] The 4th Regiment was established on 29 April with General Cherepov as commander[28] and was deployed to the central west region of the occupied territory area around Kraljevo.

[30] Also in May, Kewisch submitted a report stating that if he were permitted to recruit from all areas of Europe under German control, he could raise a force of about 25,000 men.

[29] On 1 December 1942, the Corps was incorporated into the Wehrmacht and all its members were required to swear an oath to German leader Adolf Hitler.

[31] On 9 December 1942, the 1st Regiment started to be transformed with the arrival of Kuban Cossacks led by Major General Naumenko.

[24] The 1st Regiment fought in Loznica in April and participated in a large operation in Zapolje just south of Krupanj over the border with the NDH on 11–15 May, where it engaged in heavy combat with Partisan forces.

[35] From the spring of 1944, the Corps focused increasingly on fighting the Partisans penetrating Serbia from Bosnia and the Sandžak, and the first clashes with Chetnik groups did not occur until 1944.

[39] On 28 April, the 1st Regiment prepared defences along the Drina in Zvornik, Bajina Bašta and Loznica areas expecting the 16th and 17th Partisan Divisions to attempt a crossing there.

[38] That summer, the Corps mediated an agreement between one group of Chetniks and the Germans in which the two parties agreed to fight the Partisans in Serbia.

[35] It faced the Red Army and the Chetnik 2nd Ravna Gora Corps[42] before being overpowered and forced to abandon the city.

[4] On 30 April, Shteifon died while passing through Zagreb, in the Esplanade hotel;[45] Colonel Anatoly Rogozhin took over as commander.

[9] According to Rogozhin, several hundred men and their families, who had fled the camp in Lienz and who were subject to forced repatriation to the USSR, joined the Russian Corps from mid-June 1945 in order to avoid deportation to the Soviet Union.

Its members were then sent in the Kellerberg DP Camp northwest of Villach, Austria; Rogozhin on 1 November 1945 issued an order that notified his subordinates of demobilisation.

The uniform was sometimes worn with pips of the Royal Yugoslav Army, alongside special rank insignia on the collar.