Ulrich Graf (6 July 1878 – 3 March 1950)
Hitler early personal bodyguard and inner circle member who at the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch gunfight saved Hitler life  
Graf shielded Hitler with his body, received several bullet wounds, and possibly saved Hitler's life
In 1937, he was promoted to the rank of SS-Oberführer
On Graf's birthday, 3 July 1943, he received a book from Himmler, Vogt Bartold: The Long Train to the East, signed by Himmler, thanking Graf for saving Hitler's life 20 years earlier.
In 1948, Graf was sentenced to five years hard labor and died in March 1950.

Ulrich Graf Hitler Bodyguard 

Picture taken in the Moscow-area December 1941. 

The bitter cold caused the Wehrmacht 130,000 cases of frostbite the first winter in the East.

King Winter

The Zielgerät 1229 (ZG 1229), also known in its code name Vampir, was an active infrared device developed for the Wehrmacht for the Sturmgewehr 44 assault rifle, intended primarily for night use.
The ZG 1229 Vampir weighed in at 2.25 kilograms (about 5 lbs.) and was fitted with lugs on the StG 44 at C.G. Haenel at Suhl, the weapons production facility. The grenadier carrying this was known as a Nachtjäger (night-hunter). As well as the sight and infrared spotlight, there was a 13.5 kilogram (about 30 lbs.) wooden cased battery for the light, and a second battery fitted inside a gas mask container to power the image converter. This was all strapped to a Tragegestell 39 (pack frame 1939). The searchlight consisted of a conventional tungsten light source shining through a filter permitting only infrared light. It operated in the upper infrared (light) spectrum rather than in the lower infrared (heat) spectrum and was, therefore, not sensitive to body heat.

Vampir gear was first used in combat in February 1945. However, small arms infrared device introduction took place in early 1944. 310 units were delivered to the Wehrmacht at the final stages of the war. Eastern Front veteran reports consist of snipers shooting at night with the aid of ‘peculiar non-shining torches coupled with enormous optical sights’ mounted on their rifles. Similar infrared gear was fitted both to MG34 and MG42 machine guns
