Part of the "French Volunteers and Collaborationist Forces" series by Daniel Laurent

The French public opinion being more and more disgusted by the blind bombing of the Allied Forces, the German Command easily obtained in 1943 the approval of the Vichy government to organize French Flak units (Anti-aircraft artillery units).
Volunteers were all coming from former French artillery units, wore the blue uniform of the French Airforce with the red French artillery armshield.
- 4,800 men in watching posts and projectors units
- 2,000 men in railways mounted and fixed Flak batteries.
- 2 AA artillery groups (401 and 402) each with 6 batteries with 12 French 25mm AA guns each. The groups kept their French denominations. Battery 1/401 was in Argentan (Orne) and battery 2/401 was in Mézidon (Calvados).

Some of those volunteers later joined the Milice in 1944, then the Waffen SS where they formed the Charlemagne Division Flak units.