Initially, before the first campaigns of the Second World War they included horse-mounted and bicycle troops in the infantry divisions, and were equipped with motorcycle combinations (BMW R75s, Zündapps etc.), VW Kübelwagens, and light armoured cars in the more mobile motorised infantry and panzer divisions.
In late summer 1944, a part of this division, SS-Panzer-Aufklärungsabteilung 16 (Reconnaissance Battalion 16), commanded by Major Walter Reder, was withdrawn from engagement with the American 5th Army then advancing on the Gothic Line to deal with an Italian Communist guerrilla unit, the Red Star Brigade (Brigata Stella Rossa).
After the surrender of France Meyer and his men were quartered in Metz where the creation of the Aufklärungsabteilung LSSAH started in August.
On Reder's direct orders the SS-Panzer-Aufklärungsabteilung 16 destroyed the village Marzabotto in reprisal for the local support given to the partisans and the resistance movement.