The 1. Kosaken-Kavallerie-Division (1st. Cossack Cavalry Division) came into being during the months of April and May in 1943. Of all the various Eastern volunteers, the many tribes of Cossacks made up the majority of them. The first Cossack volunteers commenced fighting for the Germans almost from the very outset of the German invasion of Russia. Over time, more and more Cossack units were raised but were scattered among the many German forces spanning the Eastern Front. The creation of the 1. Kosaken-Kavallerie-Division brought these various units into one fold and with additional recruitment, some 12,000 men were assembled representing Don, Kuban, Terek, and Ural Cossacks. The division was made up of two brigades, each with three cavalry regiments and one artillery regiment. Division assets included a reconnaissance battalion, two engineer battalions, one signal battalion, and a divisional artillery battalion. The division was first deployed into action on October 12, 1943 against Yugoslav partisans and in 1944, was shifted to Croatia to battle Chetniks and Croat partisans. The unit gained a reputation for ruthlessness to the point special courts-martial were set up in the division to dispense justice on those Cossacks who exhibited more extreme barbarism. The division first saw battle against the Red Army near Pitomača, Croatia. There, the Cossacks showed their prowess in combat, forcing the Soviets to retreat from the field. By February 1945, the 1. Kosaken-Kavallerie-Division was absorbed into the XV SS Cossack Cavalry Corps.
The soldier pictured is from one of the units within the 1. Kosaken-Kavallerie-Division. This can be told by the plain shield seen beneath the Russian Liberation Army (Russkaya Osvoboditel'naya Armiya, abbreviated ROA) shield. The divisional shield was red with a white border. The ROA shield (POA in Cyrillic) was introduced early in 1943 and issued out to the various Osttruppen (Eastern Troops) but it would not be until the formation of the Komitet Osvobozhdeniya Narodov Rossii (Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia) in November 1944 would the ideal of a singular Osttruppen army come into being. So, many of the various Osttruppen and Cossack soldiers would simply add the ROA shield to their uniform rather than replace their indigenous unit insignia with it. The ROA shield featured a blue St. Andrews cross on a white field surrounded by a red border. The POA lettering was yellow with the shield's background being a dark green. The photograph can be dated to sometime after May 1943 given that he wears the regulation crossed lances collar patches which were first authorized for Cossack troops on May 29, 1943. The lances were silver on a red background. For enlisted men, like this man who holds the rank of Freiwilliger, the patch had a olive green border. As typical for many of the ROA units, he has a mixture of rank accouterments. His shoulder boards are from the previous rank regulations for Cossacks that were issued on November 11, 1942. These consisted of shoulder boards which were of the same pattern as the German military except that the material was green with red piping around the edges. The 1943 regulations called for Czarist-style shoulder boards. He is lightly equipped, the only notable piece of equipment being the metal gasmaskenbüchse (gas mask case).
For weapons, he holds a Soviet Shpagin 7.62X25mm PPSh-41 submachine gun. The weapon could use a 35-round box magazine but it was most often seen, and used, with its 71-round drum magazine. The weapon was popular with Soviet troops but also was highly valued by the Germans who would use captured examples whenever possible. In German service, it had its own designation which was the MP717(r). Enough examples were captured that many were rechambered to fire the 9mm Parabellum round and such conversions were known as the MP41(r). Soviet soldiers nicknamed the weapon "Papasha“ which meant "Daddy“. The soundness of the design is validated by the fact that the PPSh-41 still sees combat to this day in the hands of various militias and irregular forces around the world.
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