The division served in World War I on the Western Front. It saw action in the Battle of the Frontiers and in the Race for the Sea. It fought in the two major battles of 1916, the Battle of Verdun and the Battle of the Somme. In 1917, it fought in the Second Battle of the Aisne and the tank battle of Cambrai. In 1918, it fought in the Battle of Champagne-Marne and the Second Battle of Cambrai. Until the last campaigns of the war, the division was regarded as a first class division.