Max Waibel (2 May 1901 – 20 January 1971) was a Swiss army officer who played an important part in arranging the end of World War II in Italy.

In 1940, Waibel was one of the founders of the Officers' League, which wanted to take on the fight against any invading German troops on their own should the Federal Council decide to surrender.

He then headed the Intelligence Section 1 (NS-1, Rigi) of the Swiss Armed Forces and assigned Christian Schneider to forward militarily relevant information to the Soviet Union.

According to historian Edgar Bonjour [de], Operation Sunrise ended the war six to eight weeks earlier and preserved the rich cultural heritage of northern Italy from German destruction in the event of a forced retreat.

Innumerable human lives and noble cultural assets were spared, Northern Italy escaped the barbaric war atrocities of the scorched earth.