6th Royal Bavarian Division The 6th Royal Bavarian Division was a unit of the Royal Bavarian Army which served alongside the Prussian Army as part of the Imperial German Army . The division was formed on April 1 , 1900 and was headquartered in Regensburg . In Bavarian sources , it was not generally referred to as a " Royal Bavarian " division , as this was considered self - evident , but outside Bavaria , this designation was used for it , and other Bavarian units , to distinguish them from similarly numbered Prussian units . The division was part of the III Royal Bavarian Army Corps . Combat chronicle . During World War I , the division served on the Western Front . It fought initially in the Battle of the Frontiers . It then served in the area between the Meuse and Moselle Rivers until July 1916 , seeing action on the Meuse heights , by St . Mihiel , and in the Bois - brulé . In July and August 1916 , the division fought in the Battle of Verdun , and afterwards went into combat in the Argonne Forest . At the end of September 1916 , it fought in the Battle of the Somme . The division suffered heavy losses in both of these battles . From October 1916 into 1918 , the division occupied the trenchlines in Flanders and the Artois , and fought in the Battle of Arras and the Battle of Passchendaele . It then fought in the 1918 German Spring Offensive , fighting in the First Battle of the Somme ( 1918 ) , also known as the Second Battle of the Somme ( to distinguish it from the 1916 battle ) . After a period in the trenches in Flanders and near Verdun , the division fought in the Second Battle of the Somme ( 1918 ) , also known as the Third Battle of the Somme . It continued resisting various Allied offensives until the end of the war . Allied intelligence rated the division as one of the very best German divisions . Pre – World War I peacetime organization . In 1914 , the peacetime organization of the 6th Royal Bavarian Division was as follows : Order of battle on mobilization . On mobilization in August 1914 at the beginning of World War I , most divisional cavalry , including brigade headquarters , was withdrawn to form cavalry divisions or split up among divisions as reconnaissance units . Divisions received engineer companies and other support units from their higher headquarters . The 6th Bavarian Division was renamed the 6th Bavarian Infantry Division . The division ' s initial wartime organization ( major units ) was as follows : Late World War I organization . Divisions underwent many changes during the war , with regiments moving from division to division , and some being destroyed and rebuilt . During the war , most divisions became triangular - one infantry brigade with three infantry regiments rather than two infantry brigades of two regiments ( a " square division " ) . The 6th Bavarian Infantry Division was triangularized in January 1917 , dissolving the 12th Bavarian Infantry Brigade headquarters and sending the 11th Bavarian Infantry Regiment to the newly formed 16th Bavarian Infantry Division . An artillery commander replaced the artillery brigade headquarters , the cavalry was further reduced , and the engineer contingent was increased . Divisional signals commanders were established to better control communications , a major problem in coordinating infantry and artillery operations during World War I . The division ' s order of battle on February 21 , 1918 was as follows :