Albert Otto Walter Mayer was born on 24 April 1892 at Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt.

[1] During the morning of 2 August 1914, a cavalry patrol led by Mayer crossed into France before war had been officially declared.

French soldiers billeted nearby were notified and deployed to confront the German intruders.

At 10:00 a.m., Corporal Jules-André Peugeot, leading the French troops, saw the German force and shouted a command to stop as they were under arrest, to which Mayer pulled out his pistol and shot at Peugeot, hitting him in the shoulder and mortally wounding him.

His helmet was retrieved by the French authorities and today is on display at the Musée de l'Armée in Paris.