The Das Reich division, which became tragically famous in 1944 during the Battle of Normandy, continued their "lightning war" by quickly moving to the Spanish border to quickly set the line of demarkation to cut France in two. Angoulême was located in the occupied zone under German authority and was the seat of the "Feld Kommandatur". The border with the free zone, colloquially called the "zone nono" (non-occupied) passed about east of Angoulême through the Forest of Braconne and split the department in two.