Flakbatterien zur besonderen Verwendung/

During the reorganisation of the Luftwaffe ground forces in 1942, a large number of surplus troops became available to serve in the Flakartillerie. These troops were collected in Flakbatterien z.b.V., which usually only existed for a short time, before being absorbed into existing and newly created Flak-Abteilungen. The batteries were mainly used in the Reich air defence.

Those batteries formed in 1943-44 consisted mainly of remnants of various Flak-Abteilungen that had been destroyed at the front, or troops from the various replacement and training units.

As a general rule during most of 1944, the second digit in each 4 digit number, would indicate in which Luftgau-Kommando a particular battery was formed:

Luftgau	Digit	Example
Luftgau-Kommando I	'3'	schwere Flak-Batterie zbV 6.3/00
Luftgau-Kommando III	'5'	schwere Flak-Batterie zbV 5.5/33
Luftgau-Kommando VI	'7'	schwere Flak-Batterie zbV 5.7/75
Luftgau-Kommando VII/XII	'2'	Flakscheinwerfer-Batterie zbV 8.2/15
Luftgau-Kommando VIII	'4'	leichte Flak-Batterie zbV 7.5/40
Luftgau-Kommando IX	'9'	leichte Flak-Batterie zbV 6.9/40
Luftgau-Kommando XVII	'3' & '4'	schwere Flak-Batterie zbV 6.4/10

Unit details:

• leichte Flak-Batterien z.b.V.
• schwere Flak-Battrrien z.b.V.
• mittlere Flak-Battrrien z.b.V.
• Flakscheinwerfer-Batterien z.b.V.

Sources:

• Feldpostübersicht, RH 3/18 - 129. Has also been published by N. Kannapin in 3 volumes
• Gliederung und Unterstellungsverhältnis der Flak-Artillerie, Nov 1943 - Dec 1944, RL 2 III/1119 - 1122
• H. A. Koch, Flak: Die Geschichte der Deutschen Flakartillerie (Bad Nauheim, Germany: PodzuhnVerlag, 2nd Edition)