Officers of the Cossack Cavalry Division (17 photos)

You can treat them differently, but the fact that the Cossacks have always been part of our history is undeniable.

Source: Journal/foto-history

1. The colorful Lieutenant Colonel Burgrave of the Don, commander of the 1st Don Cossack Regiment. On the head there is a white hat, on the chest there are medals for courage and merit (Eastern troops) and for the winter of 41-42.

2. Tsu Dona poses with Captain Dienenthal

3. Two officers surrounded by their comrades; Apparently, they are amused by what is happening. The junior lieutenant on the right, with a medal for courage and merit, belongs to the 4th Kuban Regiment, as can be seen from the patch on the sleeve.

4. Captain Erich Dienenthal (12/17/1915 - 07/26/1990)

5. Helmut von Pannwitz awards Ivan Kononov the Iron Cross, 2nd class.

6. Commander of the 5th Don Regiment Ivan Kononov

7. Commander of the Cossack Cavalry Division Helmut von Pannwitz

8. Ivan Nikitovich Kononov, commander of the 5th Don Regiment. In this photograph taken in Croatia, Kononov is wearing the uniform of a lieutenant colonel.

9. German lieutenant colonel (Baron von Wolf) from the leadership of the Cossack division. Dressed in a gray Circassian coat with Cossack shoulder straps. Awarded the Iron Cross 1st class. Above the medal bar (which shows that he was a veteran of the First World War), the ribbon of the medal for courage and merit of the Eastern Forces is visible. This officer's uniform shows how the German military assimilated Cossack traditions.

10. Group of officers of the 5th Don Regiment. This regiment, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Kononov, was the only one staffed exclusively by Cossack officers.

11. German captain of the 1st Cossack division. The patch on the right sleeve shows that he does not belong directly to the cavalry units.

12. Lieutenant Colonel Hans Freiherr von Wolf. Born on March 19, 1903 in Lindendberg, near Riga (Latvia), he joined the Reichsheer in 1922. At the beginning of the war he was the commander of 5./Kav.Schtz.Rgt., belonging to 3.Lei.Div. Fought in France and Poland, was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on July 13, 1940. During the Eastern Campaign, he fought in the northern, then central part of the Eastern Front with the 8th Panzer Division, awarded the Oak Leaves on January 16, 1942 (No. 61 ) In July 1942, he took part in the battles of Velikiye Luki, and then headed the 4th Kuban Cossack Regiment of the 1st Cossack Cavalry Brigade.

13. Captain K. Langfeldt, officer of the 3rd Kuban Regiment (2nd Brigade). Awarded the Iron Cross on May 18, 1943, as commander of the 30th Motorized Infantry Battalion. On the cap is the death's head cockade of the Prussian Life Hussars. Langfeldt was born in December 1918 in Oldenburg and after the war served in the Bundeswehr with the rank of lieutenant. Died June 13, 1980

14. Portrait of a junior lieutenant from von Pannwitz’s personal guard.

15. General Helmuth von Pannwitz, commander of the Cossack cavalry division. On the occasion of the division's officers' parade, Pannwitz donned his Cossack uniform, including a hat, saber and dagger.

16. Lieutenant Colonel Prince zu Salm-Khostmar, commander of the 6th Terek Cossack Regiment. He managed to escape along with other German officers and avoid capture in the Soviet Union.

17. Officer of the 1st Don Regiment, awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd degree.