On 28 June 1940, the zone was hermetically closed, allegedly because of devastation caused by heavy fighting during the German campaign.[1] The refugees who had fled the German advance during the Battle of France were not initially allowed to return to the territory, but passes were however gradually increased for workers in short-staffed occupations.[4] After August 1940, the lands of farmers who had not returned to the zone were confiscated by the Ostdeutsche Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft ("East German Land Management Company") which managed confiscated Polish farmlands.[4] The company took the name Westland in the forbidden zone, and by the summer of 1942 was managing some 4 million hectares of farmland.[4] Land redistribution to German peasants was however not immediately possible because of the limited quantity of potential settlers,[4] a problem exacerbated further by the ever-increasing manpower needs of the Wehrmacht.