The 35th Infantry Division began World War I on the Eastern Front. It fought in the battles of Gumbinnen and Tannenberg, and in the First Battle of the Masurian Lakes. In 1915, it participated in the Gorlice-Tarnów Offensive. In October 1915, it was transferred to the Western Front. In 1916, it fought in the Battle of the Somme. In 1917, it participated in the Battle of Arras and the Battle of Passchendaele. In 1918, the division fought against various Allied offensives and counteroffensives, including the Hundred Days Offensive. Allied intelligence rated the division as a mediocre division and considered it second class by 1918, mainly due to the losses it had suffered in the war's earlier battles.