Pact, would fall under the Soviet sphere of interest, so the 44th Division was withdrawn across the demarcation line and deployed along the River San. The 44th Infantry Division had lost 121 killed, 270 wounded and 44 missing; it took 300 officers and 25,000 men as prisoners and marched 540 km, in the campaign against Poland a daily average of 29 km. After the end of the Polish campaign, the division returned to its home station until it was moved to central Germany as OKH reserve, and finally shifted west for the start of the Campaign against France. France 1940 In May 1940, at the start of the German attack on France, the 44th Infantry Division was in OKH reserve near Hameln. Assigned to 6th Army on 15 May, it moved forward behind the main spearheads, and eventually on 29 May was inserted into a defensive sector on the Somme near Peronne, protecting the southern flank of the German breakthrough. Here it remained as the Allied armies fell back to Dunkirk and evacuated. Realigning their forces to the south, the German High Command instigated plan red (Fall Rot), the attack into France. As part of 6th Army, the 44th Infantry Division would attack south out of its bridgehead across the Somme and strike the French forces manning the Weygand line. Striking in the early morning hours of 5 June, the infantry attack swept forward, infiltrating between the French fortified villages, but faltered as the open ground offered little in the way of concealment from enemy observation. By the afternoon, their forces were suffering from accurate French artillery bombardments, mortar and machine gun fire, directed from the French positions. One battalion, the I/134, overextended itself trying to outflank the village of Foucaucourt and became cut off, and Captain Hartmann, the commanding officer surrendered along with 216 men. The robust defence of 5 June by the French 19th Division and the 7th North African division forced Generalleutnant Schubert, the 44th Division commander, to withdraw his attacking units in the evening. In Schubert's discussion with the XXXX Corps commander, General Stumme, additional artillery support was organised for the following day and it was agreed that the fortified villages would have to be stormed and taken before the division could continue its advance. On the second day of attack, the 132 Infantry Regiment managed to take the village of Chuignolles and the surrounding area,