![De beide klassen van de Pruisische Orde Pour le Mérite](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/De_beide_klassen_van_de_Pruisische_Orde_Pour_le_M%C3%A9rite.png)
Colonel Max Hermann Bauer (31 January 1869 – 6 May 1929) was a German
General Staff officer
An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," f ...
and
artillery
Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...
expert in the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. As a protege of
Erich Ludendorff
Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff (9 April 1865 – 20 December 1937) was a German general, politician and military theorist. He achieved fame during World War I for his central role in the German victories at Liège and Tannenberg in 1914 ...
he was placed in charge of the German Army's munition supply by the latter in 1916. In this role he played a leading role in the
Hindenburg Programme
The Hindenburg Programme of August 1916 is the name given to the armaments and economic policy begun in late 1916 by the Third (OHL, headquarters of the German General Staff), Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg and General Erich Ludendorff. The ...
and the High Command's political machinations. Later Bauer was a
military
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
and
industrial
Industrial may refer to:
Industry
* Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry
* Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems
* Industrial city, a city dominate ...
adviser to the
Republic of China under
Chiang Kai-shek.
Rising in the army
Bauer was born in
Quedlinburg
Quedlinburg () is a town situated just north of the Harz mountains, in the district of Harz in the west of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. As an influential and prosperous trading centre during the early Middle Ages, Quedlinburg became a center of in ...
. He began to study medicine in Berlin, but then enlisted as an officer candidate in Foot Artillery Regiment 2 (heavy artillery) in 1888. The following year he attended the Kriegs-Schule in Hanover and then was commissioned. After regimental service, in 1898 he was appointed Adjutant to the Artillerie-Prüfungskommission (Artillery Testing Commission). In 1902 he took command of a battery as a captain. An observer of the
Russo-Japanese war
The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...
(1904-5), he was impressed by how Japanese 28 cm mortars demolished Russian forts. When he returned in 1905 he joined the fortress section of the General Staff as their artillery expert, which made him conversant with the leaders of German industry, science, and engineering. Unable to obtain authorization to develop a new heavy mortar, he ordered one from
Krupp nonetheless. When the War Ministry learned that a prototype was completed they wanted Bauer dismissed, but the firing tests were so impressive that further development was authorized in 1911. Meanwhile, in 1908 he moved into the mobilization section of the Staff directed by
Erich Ludendorff
Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff (9 April 1865 – 20 December 1937) was a German general, politician and military theorist. He achieved fame during World War I for his central role in the German victories at Liège and Tannenberg in 1914 ...
— they became staunch friends. Ludendorff regarded him as the “smartest officer in the army”. In the following year Bauer was appointed as a General Staff Officer, remarkable because he had not had the customary specialized schooling. Helped by his contacts in industry, he studied how the German economy would function during a European war.
The first years of World War I
When the war came Major Bauer was posted to the Operations Section of
Oberste Heeresleitung
The ''Oberste Heeresleitung'' (, Supreme Army Command or OHL) was the highest echelon of command of the army (''Heer'') of the German Empire. In the latter part of World War I, the Third OHL assumed dictatorial powers and became the ''de facto'' ...
(OHL, Supreme Army Command) as head of Section II, which was responsible for heavy artillery, mortars, and fortresses. Earlier in 1914, the first of the Krupp
42cm mortars, nicknamed "Big Bertha", and its concrete-piercing shells were ready. They smashed the forts in Belgium and northern France. In 1915 the huge guns forced the surrender of the formidable Russian fortifications in Poland, like
Przemyśl, before dealing with the
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...
n strongholds at
Belgrade. For developing the mortars Bauer was awarded the ''
Pour le Mérite
The ' (; , ) is an order of merit (german: Verdienstorden) established in 1740 by King Frederick II of Prussia. The was awarded as both a military and civil honour and ranked, along with the Order of the Black Eagle, the Order of the Red Eag ...
'' and an honorary doctorate from the University of Berlin. (In 1918 he received the Oak Leaves for his ''Pour le Mérite.'' During the war he was awarded 25 German and foreign medals.)
Before the war he had worked with the chemist
Fritz Haber
Fritz Haber (; 9 December 186829 January 1934) was a German chemist who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918 for his invention of the Haber–Bosch process, a method used in industry to synthesize ammonia from nitrogen gas and hydroge ...
to transform
nitrogen
Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...
from the air into explosive precursors, which let the Germans make war despite the
Naval blockade of Germany preventing continued imports of supplies of nitrates that had come from Chile before the war. When the adversaries deadlocked in their trenches along the Western Front, Haber suggested that they could break through by releasing a cloud of poisonous chlorine gas, which is heavier than air. Bauer provided funds and scientists already in the army. Bauer, Haber and Duisberg, the head of the chemical cartel, and their horses were poisoned at the first field test; all were invalided for days. He was present at the first attack, which cleared the defenders out of miles of trenches defending the city of
Ypres
Ypres ( , ; nl, Ieper ; vls, Yper; german: Ypern ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though
the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality c ...
, but was "heartbroken" because Supreme Commander
Erich von Falkenhayn
General Erich Georg Sebastian Anton von Falkenhayn (11 September 1861 – 8 April 1922) was the second Chief of the German General Staff of the First World War from September 1914 until 29 August 1916. He was removed on 29 August 1916 after t ...
had mounted only a diversionary attack, divulging their top-secret for almost no gain. Bauer continued to support the development of new gases, tactics to use them effectively despite protective masks, and Haber's mobilization of scientists for the war effort.
Section II of
OHL Supreme Army Command carefully evaluated how their weapons performed on active service. For instance, in 1916 they produced a modified field gun that could be elevated to 40 degrees, compared to its former 16 degrees, and their light howitzer's range was increased 43 percent to . They formed a unit to develop assault tactics using
stormtroopers. Their first tank, introduced in May 1917, was too large and unwieldy, few were produced, so they had to use captured enemy tanks. Krupp and Daimler designed a light tank, but production was not authorized until French light tanks showed their value, consequently they could not be available until April 1919.
Bauer strongly opposed Falkenhayn's plan to attack
Verdun
Verdun (, , , ; official name before 1970 ''Verdun-sur-Meuse'') is a large city in the Meuse department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department.
Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital ...
in 1916 along a narrow front on the right bank of the Meuse, because their flank would be vulnerable to French artillery on the left bankhe was spot-on; before long they had to attack the left bank as well. While arranging artillery support before the attack he stayed at Fifth Army headquarters where he became a fast friend of its commander,
Crown Prince Wilhelm
Wilhelm, German Crown Prince, Crown Prince of Prussia (Friedrich Wilhelm Victor August Ernst; 6 May 1882 – 20 July 1951) was the eldest child of the last ''Kaiser'', the German Emperor, Wilhelm II, and his consort Augusta Victoria of Schles ...
; they kept in touch thereafter. In the first salvo of the attack a 42 cm shell struck
Fort Douaumont
Fort Douaumont (french: Fort de Douaumont) was the largest and highest fort on the ring of 19 large defensive works which had protected the city of Verdun, France, since the 1890s. By 1915, the French General Staff had concluded that even the bes ...
, a key to the defense. It did not penetrate the reinforced concrete and sand layers: the Verdun forts were stouter than any the mortars had fired on hitherto. Later that year Bauer was dismayed by Falkenhayn's insistence along the
Somme front on packing infantry into the foremost trenches to repel the attacks, where they were chewed-up by the Entente's artillery preparations. Bauer decided that Falkenhayn must be replaced by his friend Ludendorff, who had displayed virtuosity on the Eastern Front. Supported by junior officers at OHL he tirelessly lobbied the highest echelons of the army and government against his superior, with criticisms of Falkenhayn like "...his decisions were half measures and he wavered even over these." Falkenhayn was replaced on 29 August 1916 by Field Marshal
Paul von Hindenburg
Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg (; abbreviated ; 2 October 1847 – 2 August 1934) was a German field marshal and statesman who led the Imperial German Army during World War I and later became President of Germany fr ...
as Chief of Staff with First Quartermaster General Ludendorff as his associate. To Bauer this was his greatest victory.
Total War
The new commanders resolved to wage total war.
OHL Supreme Army Command was reorganized, Bauer's Section II was responsible for heavy artillery, mortars and fortresses. Bauer set highly optimistic goals for weapon production, for instance tripling machine gun output, in what became known as the
Hindenburg Program. His industrialist friends welcomed the orders but needed more workers. Skilled men were released from the armed forces and a bill making most men and women subject to national service was proposed to the Reichstag, which rejected the most extreme measures, like shutting the universities except for their medical schools. Compelling women to work was unnecessary, because already more were looking than there were jobs. The bill that finally passed was almost useless. Soon Bauer had a staff officer for propaganda and another stationed in Berlin for political liaison. Despite their exertions, "Unable to control labour and unwilling to control industry, the army failed miserably...."
Lieutenant General von Höhn's draft of a manual describing defense in depth was rewritten by Bauer and Captain Geyer. The crux was that any attackers who penetrated a lightly manned front line would be destroyed by counterattacks. Defense in depth became German Army doctrine through the Second World War.
OHL relied on his political judgment. Ludendorff and Bauer saw eye to eye: to them "To govern means to dominate." So of course they despised Chancellor
Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg
Theobald Theodor Friedrich Alfred von Bethmann Hollweg (29 November 1856 – 1 January 1921) was a German politician who was the chancellor of the German Empire from 1909 to 1917. He oversaw the German entry into World War I. According to biog ...
who tried to govern by consensus and hoped to negotiate a peace. They lobbied fervently against him. Bethmann was pressured into agreeing to unrestricted submarine warfare, which brought the United States into the war. On 10 June 1917 Bauer gave
Matthias Erzberger
Matthias Erzberger (20 September 1875 – 26 August 1921) was a German writer and politician (Centre Party), the minister of Finance from 1919 to 1920.
Prominent in the Catholic Centre Party, he spoke out against World War I from 1917 and as a ...
, a leading catholic
Reichstag deputy, a private, pessimist briefing, including his assessment that the U-boats could not win the war. Bauer had misfired. Instead of backing the struggle with a stiffer spine, Erzberger tabled a resolution for a negotiated peace without annexations. ''OHL'' fought back fiercely. The Crown Prince visited Berlin to pressure legislators. Bauer stayed in the capital, in the thick of the fight. Hindenburg and Ludendorff came there to threaten to resign. The Kaiser told them "there could be no justification for their presence in Berlin." They retreated to Headquarters to tweak their tactics. On 11 July 1917 Hindenburg and Ludendorff telegraphed their resignations unless Bethmann Hollweg was replaced and immediately released the telegrams to the press. Bethmann Hollweg resigned. The resolution was amended to call for "a peace of equilibrium" and passed by 212 to 126. It was ignored by the new Chancellor
Georg Michaelis
Georg Michaelis (8 September 1857 – 24 July 1936) was the chancellor of the German Empire for a few months in 1917. He was the first (and the only one of the German Empire) chancellor not of noble birth to hold the office. With an economic ba ...
.
OHL Supreme Army Command was in the political driver's seat, but their only objective was total victory.
Bauer worked with Krupp on the development of antiaircraft artillery and of the
Paris guns that fired shells but failed to dent civilian morale.
In 1918 OHL unleashed a series of massive attacks to bring victory. Each attack began with a multi-million shell hurricane artillery bombardment. Bauer assembled the guns that were commanded by Colonel
Bruchmüller. Repeatedly they broke through British and French lines. After four successful months an attack on the French along the
Marne River
The Marne () is a river in France, an eastern tributary of the Seine in the area east and southeast of Paris. It is long. The river gave its name to the departments of Haute-Marne, Marne, Seine-et-Marne, and Val-de-Marne.
The Marne starts in t ...
was bloodily repulsed and then on 17 July 1918 the right flank of their salient pointing towards Paris was crushed by a powerful, joint
French and American attack led by massed tanks. Bauer realized that the war was lost and that "in decency” it should be ended. He notified his industrialist friends. Bauer and the Crown Prince agreed that Germany needed a dictator, their choice was Ludendorff. Their misreading of the nation's political situation was exposed when Ludendorff was dismissed on 25 October so despised that for safety he fled the country. Vice-Chancellor Friedrich von Payer, the only member of the administration also in the ''Reichstag'', excoriated Bauer for his un-military political meddling. Bauer took this dressing-down as a tribute to his invaluable work; but he retired from active service on 31 October 1918, a few months after being promoted to Colonel. A close student of the war described Bauer: "There is a strange mixture of force and weakness, calculation and abandon, intelligence and illogic in this man."
Post-war
He wrote about his experiences and national policy during the war. In 1920 Bauer and Ludendorff were among the leaders of the right-wing
Kapp Putsch
The Kapp Putsch (), also known as the Kapp–Lüttwitz Putsch (), was an attempted coup against the German national government in Berlin on 13 March 1920. Named after its leaders Wolfgang Kapp and Walther von Lüttwitz, its goal was to undo th ...
, which seized control of the government. They were forced out by a nationwide general strike. Ludendorff was let off but Bauer had to flee the country. He worked as a military consultant in the Soviet Union, Spain and Argentina. He returned to Germany in 1925 following an amnesty for all those involved in the Putsch.
In 1926, Chinese engineer
Chu Chia-hua
Zhu Jiahua or Chu Chia-hua (; 30 May 1893 – 3 January 1963) was a politician in the Republic of China. In the early 1930s he served as Minister of Communications for the Nationalist Government in Nanjing. He was the List of vice premiers of th ...
, president of the
Sun Yat-Sen University
Sun Yat-sen University (, abbreviated SYSU and colloquially known in Chinese as Zhongda), also known as Zhongshan University, is a national key public research university located in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It was founded in 1924 by and nam ...
in
Canton, contacted Bauer for advice on military and business opportunities in China. In 1927, Bauer visited
Chiang Kai-shek, who hired him as a military adviser, wishing to use his contacts to acquire more weapons and industrial assistance from Germany. This began
Sino-German cooperation until 1941.
In 1928, Bauer returned to Germany to make contacts with German industries and the army. However, the
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...
restricted arms production. In addition, he was ''
persona non grata'' to the German government as he had participated in the Kapp Putsch. Nonetheless Bauer was able to establish a China trade department and to make contact with the secret German military mission in
Nanking
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
.
When Bauer returned to China, he advocated formation of a small core army supported by many local militia forces. Chiang did not use these ideas, since the militias would have concentrated military power in local hands. However, Bauer did manage to have the
Whampoa Military Academy
The Republic of China Military Academy () is the service academy for the army of the Republic of China, located in Fengshan District, Kaohsiung. Previously known as the the military academy produced commanders who fought in many of China ...
moved from Canton to Nanking, it became the Central Military Academy, and to staff it with German military advisers and instructors. He invited 20 German officers to China to work as instructors in
military training and
military intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...
. Officially, Bauer was Chiang's economic adviser and encouraged him to develop
infrastructure.
Max Bauer died in Shanghai, of
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
, on 6 May 1929, perhaps as a result of having been intentionally infected by one of his Chinese enemies, as he was the only person infected with the contagious disease in the region where he contracted it. He was buried in China with military honors. His ashes were later returned to Germany and buried at
Swinemünde on 5 August 1929.
[Fox, 1970.]
See also
*
Sino-German cooperation
*
German-trained divisions of the National Revolutionary Army
References
External links
further info of Max Bauer* Murphy, Mahon
Bauer, Max in
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bauer, Max
1875 births
1929 deaths
Deaths from smallpox
German Army personnel of World War I
Infectious disease deaths in China
People from Quedlinburg
People from the Province of Saxony
Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (military class)
Kapp Putsch participants