The 5. Division was formed on 1 October 1920 from Reichswehr-Brigade 11 and Reichswehr-Brigade 13.

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 5. Infanterie-Division, 9. Infanterie-Division and 15. Infanterie-Division and the staff formed V Armeekorps.

Commanders

General der Infanterie Walther Reinhardt (1 Oct 1920 - 1 Jan 1925)
General der Infanterie Ernst Hasse (1 Jan 1925 - 1 Feb 1927)
General der Infanterie Hermann Reinicke (1 Feb 1927 - 30 Sep 1929)
General der Infanterie Hans Freiherr Seutter von Lötzen (1 Oct 1929 - 1 Dec 1931)
Generalleutnant Curt Liebmann (1 Dec 1931 - 1 Aug 1934)

Wehrkreis

V

Order of battle

13. (Württemburgisches) Infanterie-Regiment
14. (Badisches) Infanterie-Regiment
15. Infanterie-Regiment
5. Artillerie-Regiment

Notable members

Werner von Blomberg (Minister of Defense 1933-1935, Minister of War 1935-1938, reached the highest rank in the German Army, Generalfeldmarschall in 1936, he resigned from his posts following the scandal involving his marriage to Luise Margarethe Gruhn)
Karl Burk (Served in Artillerie-Regiment 5, later division-commander in the Waffen-SS)
Ernst Busch (Reached the highest rank in the German Army, Generalfeldmarschall, in 1943)
Walter Harzer (Served in Infanterie-Regiment 13, later division-commander in the Waffen-SS)
Maximilian von Herff (Transferred to the Waffen-SS in 1941 and ended the war as SS-Obergruppenführer)
Georg von Küchler (Reached the highest rank in the German Army, Generalfeldmarschall, in 1942)
Walter Model (Reached the highest rank in the German Army, Generalfeldmarschall, in 1944)
Friedrich Paulus (Reached the highest rank in the German Army, Generalfeldmarschall, in 1943, despite being listed as "von Paulus" in numerous sources there was no "von" in the name of Friedrich Paulus)
Erwin Rommel ("The Desert Fox", forced to committ suicide to avoid trial for involvement in the resistance against Hitler, the Bundeswehr barracks Generalfeldmarschall Rommel-Kaserne in Augustdorf was named in his honour 1961 and the Rommel-Kaserne in Dornstadt/Ulm in 1965 as was the Bundesmarine destroyer D187 Rommel)
August Zehender (Served in Infanterie-Regiment 12, later division-commander in the Waffen-SS)

Soldiers of 5. Division on exercise in Thüringen 1925 with a Mercedes-Benz Funk-Wagen (2. Kl.Fu.18.Wg.)

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

Officers of 5. Division and 7. Division on an exercise in 1926, second from the right is Alfred Jodl

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

General Curt Liebmann in December 1931

(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 -