The French SS Volunteer Assault Brigade, most commonly known as the Brigade Frankreich was a unit of the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II. It was formed in 1943 after a change in the admission standards of the Waffen-SS allowed Frenchmen to enlist for the first time. After training in Alsace, the brigade served on the Eastern Front before merging with the Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism to form the SS Division Charlemagne.
The Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism was a unit of the German Army during World War II consisting of collaborationist volunteers from France. Officially designated the 638th Infantry Regiment, it was one of several foreign volunteer units formed in German-occupied Western Europe to participate in the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.
The newspaper Le Matin announces the collaboration between the political factions led by Constantini, Déat, Deloncle and Doriot (left to right) "to assure a French renewal within the new socialist Europe, made possible by the crushing of bolshevism and the elimination of the Anglo-Jewish plutocracy".
Field Marshal Hans Günther von Kluge visits the regiment in November 1941 at the time of its arrival on the Eastern Front
Fernand de Brinon, Vichy minister, inspects the LVF in September 1943. Puaud is third from the right, wearing a French uniform and kepi.