Bataillon d'Infanterie légère d'Outre-Mer

The ranks of BILOM included former members of the German Wehrmacht, Waffen-SS, Kriegsmarine, and French collaborationist organizations like the Milice and the Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism (LVF), and Frenchmen who served voluntarily in the German armed forces, including in the SS Charlemagne Division.

Nevertheless, according to Dr. Krisztian Bene of the University of Pécs, successful completion of one's enlistment in BILOM offered national outcasts the chance for "reintegration into French society".

[4] By late August 1948, less than 500 volunteers had joined BILOM, after the French Communist Party (PCF) orchestrated a propaganda campaign against the brigade.

The PCF sought to incite public hostility towards the government's effort, and demanded "vengeance, justice and punishment" of collaborators.

[1]: 491 The BILOM was formally disbanded on 29 July 1949, although most of its personnel continued to serve in smaller detachments attached to locally recruited units in Southern Annam.