6th Division ( German Empire ) The 6th Division ( " 6 . Division " ) was a unit of the Prussia n / German Army . It was formed in Düsseldorf in 1816 as a brigade and became the 6th Division on September 5 , 1818 . The headquarters moved to Torgau in 1820 and then to Brandenburg in 1850 . The division was subordinated in peacetime to the III Army Corps ( " III . Armeekorps " ) . The division was disbanded in 1919 during the demobilization of the German Army after World War I . The division was recruited in the Province of Brandenburg . The 6th Division fought in the Second Schleswig War of 1864 , including the key Battle of Dybbøl , or Düppeler Heights . The division then fought in the Austro - Prussian War in 1866 , including the Battle of Königgrätz . In the Franco - Prussian War of 1870 - 71 , the division saw action in the battles of Mars - la - Tour , Gravelotte , Orléans , and Le Mans , and in the Siege of Metz . The division was mobilized as the 6th Infantry Division in August 1914 and sent to the west for the opening campaigns of the war . In 1914 it fought in the Battle of the Marne and the Race to the Sea . It then settled into positional warfare in the trenches along the Somme . The division was sent east in late 1915 to participate in the Serbian Campaign . It fought in the early phases of the Battle of Verdun and in the Battle of the Somme in 1916 . In mid - 1917 , it was sent to the Eastern Front in response to the Russian Kerensky Offensive . It returned to the Western Front in September 1917 , and remained there until war ' s end , participating in the Second Battle of the Aisne in 1917 and in the German Spring Offensive of 1918 and the Allied offensives that followed . The division was rated among the best in the German Army by Allied intelligence . Order of battle in the Franco - Prussian War . During wartime , the 6th Division , like other regular German divisions , was redesignated an infantry division . The organization of the 6th Infantry Division in 1870 at the beginning of the Franco - Prussian War was as follows : Pre - World War I organization . German divisions underwent various organizational changes after the Franco - Prussian War . The organization of the division in 1914 , shortly before the outbreak of World War I , 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in August 1914 at the beginning of World War I , most divisional cavalry , including brigade headquarters , was withdrawn to form cavalry divisions or split up among divisions as reconnaissance units .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 Division was again renamed the 6th Infantry Division . Its initial wartime organization 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 " ) . An artillery commander replaced the artillery brigade headquarters , the cavalry was further reduced , the engineer contingent was increased , and a divisional signals command was created . The 6th Infantry Division ' s order of battle on February 16 , 1918 was as follows :