2. Kosaken-Kavallerie-Division was formed Jan 1945 from Kosaken-Reiter-Brigade Kaukasus II of 1. Kosaken-Kavallerie-Division.

It saw action against the Soviet Red Army as well as Bulgarian forces during the fighting in Hungary. At the end of the war the cossack units surrendered to the British forces in Austria after receiving a guarantee from a British General, possibly General Archer, that they would not be turned over to the Soviets. This soon changed however and they were turned over to the USSR a few weeks later, many of them being executed, including several of the German officers serving in those units, and the rest doing hard labour for a long time.

This unit took part in anti-partisan operations in Croatia.

Order of Battle

Kuban-Kosaken-Reiter-Regiment 3

Don-Kosaken-Reiter-Regiment 5

Terek-Kosaken-Reiter-Regiment 6

Kosaken-Artillerie-Regiment 2

Cossack cavalry troops

(Courtesy of Josef Fregosi)

Cossack soldiers on horseback displaying their flags

(Courtesy of Bundesarchiv/Wikimedia, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 Germany)

Cossack soldier

(Courtesy of Bundesarchiv/Wikimedia, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 Germany)

Sources used

Dr Jeffrey T. Fowler - Axis Cavalry in World War II

Richard Landwehr - Steadfast Hussars: The Last cavalry Divisions of the Waffen-SS

David Littlejohn - Foreign Legions of the Third Reich, vol 4

Reference material on this unit

Peter J. Huxley-Blythe - Under the St. Andrew's Cross: Russian & Cossack Volunteers in World War II

François de Lannoy - Pannwitz Cossacks: Les Cosaques de Pannwitz 1942 - 1945