Max Hermann Bauer  
(31.01.1869 - 06.05.1929)
place of birth:  Quedlinburg
Königreich Preußen:  OHL,  Oberst  (Fußart)


Oberst Max Bauer represented one of Imperial Germany's more significant role players during the Great War. At war's outbreak, he headed up German Supreme Command's heavy artillery department in the Operations Section. Bauer was given due credit for Germany's successes in using artillery and mortars to break through the heavily fortified front lines protecting France and Belgium, as well as the Russian strongholds in Poland. For his expertise and efforts in this, Kaiser Wilhelm II awarded Bauer the Pour le Mérite medal in December 1916.

As Imperial Germany's demise loomed in late 1918, Colonel Bauer recognized that his nation was defeated. He began discussing with Crown Prince Wilhelm the need for post-War Germany to be led by a dictator. While they both considered General Ludendorff to fit the bill, this ended up being a grave miscalculation of their nation's underlying sentiments. Ludendorff fled the country in fear for his life, and Bauer ended his military service. Colonel Bauer nonetheless remained militarily and politically active during the post-War years. He and Ludendorff were main participants in the ill-fated Kapp Putsch of 1920, and this time it was Bauer who was compelled to leave his country. He served as a military advisor in Russia, Spain, and Argentina. In 1927, Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek begin negotiating with Bauer to acquire weaponry and industrial assistance from the Germans. In 1929, Bauer fell ill with small pox, possibly poisoned, and died in Shanghai.

	Oberst	18.08.1918
	Pour le Mérite	19.12.1916  (Eichenlaub:  28.03.1918)