The division was mobilized as the 8th Infantry Division in August 1914 and sent to the west for the opening campaigns of the war. It fought in the Battle of the Marne and then participated in the Race to the Sea. The division then spent time in the trenches, and fought in the Battle of the Somme in 1916. During the German spring offensive of 1918, the division fought in the Battle of the Lys. The division was rated a first-class division with high morale by Allied intelligence.