The 3. Division was formed on 1 October 1920 from Reichswehr-Brigade 3, Reichswehr-Brigade 6 and Reichswehr-Brigade 15.

The original seven Infanterie-Divisionen of the Reichswehr were used to form 21 new divisions 1 October 1934. These divisions used at first used cover names to hide their divisional size but in October 1935 these were dropped.
The infantry regiment of this division was used to form infantry regiments of 3. Infanterie-Division, 8. Infanterie-Division, 13. Infanterie-Division and 18. Infanterie-Division and the staff was used to form III Armeekorps.

Commanders

General der Infanterie Erich Weber Pascha (1 Oct 1920 - 16 Sep 1921)
General der Infanterie Hans Freiherr von Hammerstein-Gesmold (16 Sep 1921 - 1 Feb 1923)
General der Infanterie Erich von Tschischwitz (1 Feb 1923 - 1 Feb 1927)
General der Infanterie Joachim vom Amsberg (1 Feb 1927 - 30 Sep 1929)
General der Infanterie Rudolf Schniewindt (1 Oct 1929 - 30 Sep 1931)
Generalleutnant Fedor von Bock (1 Oct 1931 - 1 Apr 1935)

Wehrkreis

III

Order of battle

7. (Preußisches) Infanterie-Regiment
8. (Preußisches) Infanterie-Regiment
9. (Preußisches) Infanterie-Regiment
3. (Preußisches) Artillerie-Regiment

Notable members

Fedor von Bock (Reached the highest rank in the German Army, Generalfeldmarschall, in 1940)
Ernst Busch (Reached the highest rank in the German Army, Generalfeldmarschall, in 1943)
Ewald von Kleist (Reached the highest rank in the German Army, Generalfeldmarschall, in 1943)
Günther von Kluge (Involved in the resistance against Hitler and took his life following the failure of the attempt on Hitlers life 20 July 1944 fearing arrest, reached the highest rank in the German Army, Generalfeldmarschall, in 1940)
Walter Model (Reached the highest rank in the German Army, Generalfeldmarschall, in 1944)
Heinz Reinefarth (Served in Artillerie-Regiment 3, later corps-commander in the Waffen-SS)
Karl Sauberzweig (Served in Infanterie-Regiment 8, later corps-commander in the Waffen-SS)
Karl Ullrich (Served in Infanterie-Regiment 9, later division-commander in the Waffen-SS)
Erwin von Witzleben (Active in the resistance against Hitler and executed after the failure of the July 20 Plot, reached the highest rank in the German Army, Generalfeldmarschall, in 1940)

Soldiers of 9. (Preußisches) Infanterie-Regiment on exercise in southern Germany 1926

(Courtesy of Bundesarchiv/Wikimedia, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 Germany)

Machine gun unit of 3. Division on exercise at Döbritz 1929

(Courtesy of Bundesarchiv/Wikimedia, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 Germany)

Soldiers of Nachrichten-Abteilung 3 in 1928

(Courtesy of Bundesarchiv/Wikimedia, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 Germany)

Sources used

Andris J. Kursietis - Between Kaiser and Führer: The history of the German Army 1919-1933
Georg Tessin - Deutsche Verbände und Truppen 1918-1939
Georg Tessin - Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht 1933-1945
Mark C. Yerger - Waffen-SS Commanders: The army, corps and divisional leaders of a legend (2 vol)

Reference material on this unit

- None known at this time -