Max Bauer

Who was Max Bauer?

Max Hermann Bauer was a German artillery expert in the First World War and later military and industrial advisor to the Kuomintang.

He joined the German Army in 1890 and in 1905 was appointed to the general staff. He became expert in artillery tactics and during the First World War had a hand in destroying the Liège fort in Belgium in 1914. In July 1915 he became a chief of the Section I of the General staff. He mobilized industry to produce ammunition and wrote a booklet about defensive tactics. In December 1916 he was awarded the Pour le Mérite, with oak leaves added on March 28, 1918.

After the war, Bauer participated in the Kapp Putsch in 1920. When that failed, he was exiled and later worked as a military consultant in the Soviet Union, Spain and Argentina. He returned to Germany in 1925 after general amnesty for those had been involved with the putsch.

In 1926, Chinese engineer Chu Chia-hua, president of the Sun Yat-Sen University in Canton, contacted then-colonel Bauer to advise in military and business opportunities in China. Next year Bauer visited Chiang Kai-Shek, who hired him as a military advisor, wishing to use his contacts to acquire more weapons and industrial assistance from Germany.