[2] It was formed from two previously independent Brigades: 37th Mixed Landwehr and 2nd Reserve Ersatz.
[3] The 5th Ersatz Division was disbanded in 1919, during the demobilization of the German Army after World War I.
Thereafter, it occupied positions in the Champagne region until December 1916, when it was transferred to the Eastern Front.
It fought in Lithuania until the armistice on the Eastern Front, and then carried out garrison duties in Estonia and Latvia until February 1919.
Allied intelligence rated the division as fourth class, with only moderate fighting value.