The 6. Division was formed on 1 October 1920 from Reichswehr-Brigade 7 and Reichswehr-Brigade 10.

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 6. Infanterie-Division, 16. Infanterie-Division and 19. Infanterie-Division and the staff formed VI Armeekorps.

Commanders

General der Infanterie Friedrich von Lossberg (1 Oct 1920 - 1 Jan 1925)
General der Infanterie Leopold Freiherr von Ledebur (1 Jan 1925 - 28 Feb 1928)
General der Artillerie Max Föhrenbach (1 Mar 1928 - 1 May 1931)
Generalleutnant Wolfgang Fleck (1 May 1931 - 30 Sep 1934)

Wehrkreis

VI

Order of battle

16. Infanterie-Regiment
17. Infanterie-Regiment
18. Infanterie-Regiment
6. (Preußisches) Artillerie-Regiment

Notable members

Walther von Brauchitsch (Commander-in-Chief of the Army 1938-1941, reached the highest rank in the German Army, Generalfeldmarschall, in 1940)
Ernst Busch (Reached the highest rank in the German Army, Generalfeldmarschall, in 1943)
Ernst Jünger (Famous author, most well-known for "In Stahlgewittern", "Storm of Steel")
Wilhem Keitel ("LaKeitel" ("Lackey"), Head of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht 1938-1945, reached the highest rank in the German Army, Generalfeldmarschall, in 1940, sentenced to death and hanged as a major war criminal at the Nuremberg Trials in 1946)
Matthias Kleinheisterkamp (Served in Infanterie-Regiment 17, later corps-commander in the Waffen-SS)
Walter Model (Reached the highest rank in the German Army, Generalfeldmarschall, in 1944)
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)
Gerd von Rundstedt (Reached the highest rank in the German Army, Generalfeldmarschall, in 1940)

Soldiers of 6. Division on exercise at Bad Pyrmont 1930

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

Adolf Hitler greets a honor guard from the 6. Division in Goslar on 30 September 1934, to the left is Hauptmann Erwin Rommel

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

Memorial in Veltheim (Porta Westfalica) to the 81 soldiers of the 6. Division who died in a ferry accident in 1925

(Courtesy of Grugerio)

Sources used

Helmuth Kiesel - Ernst Jünger: Die Biographie
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 -