During the Second World War, Braunschweig was an "Untergebiet Hauptquartier" ("Sub-Area Headquarters") of Wehrkreis XI ("Military District XI"), and was the garrison city of the 31st Infantry Division that took part in the invasions of Poland, Belgium, and France, largely being destroyed during its retreat following the invasion of Russia. In this period, thousands of Eastern workers were brought to the city as forced labor, and in the 1943–1945 period at least 360 children taken away from such workers died in the "Entbindungsheim für Ostarbeiterinnen" ("Maternity Ward for Eastern Workers").