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Oberfeldwebel Wilhelm Graf is one of the main characters in Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway novel and protagonist of the German side in the novel. He is a veteran Fallschirmjäger who participate many German campaigns both at Western and Eastern Front.
Biography[]
Before the war, he was a university student who studied at University of Berlin and abroad at United States. One day, he saw three kids bullied an old man. Graf intervened and seriously wounded the assailants with one of them have a broken collarbone. Unfortunately, it was revealed the old man was Jewish which was why the 3 kids bullied and the kid with the broken collarbone was a brother of a Nazi official. To escape arrest, Graf enlisted in the paratroopers.
He joined the Fallschirmjäger because he viewed different and elite than the Wehrmacht and was part of the air force instead of the army. He endured heavy training which last until 1940 where he miss the Polish invasion. His first battle was Battle of Fort Eben-Emael where the Fallschirmjäger capture a 1000-man strong Belgian fort with only 74 Fallschirmjäger. He personally destroy some of the fort defense and earned commendation for his action.
Soon, he participate the Eastern Front on the North where the army attempt to attack Leningrad. He received a Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords for his actions. He caught in trouble with the Waffen SS as the SS executed innocent refugees while Graf protested. Because of this, he was sent to the penal battalion where it was a death sentence but his commander, von Hedtye saved Graf and transferred him to the Western Front.
While fighting in the Eastern Front, he ended up taking a PPSH from an enemy soldier that nearly killed him with it.
It's implied in Baker's memory of George's death that it was him with his PPSH that killed George and it's confirmed during the final chapters of the book.