To help the Allied invasion at Normandy, Hogan convinces the Germans that Klink has been promoted to Chief of Staff.To help the Allied invasion at Normandy, Hogan convinces the Germans that Klink has been promoted to Chief of Staff.To help the Allied invasion at Normandy, Hogan convinces the Germans that Klink has been promoted to Chief of Staff.
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWhen Hogan is briefing his men after returning from England, he seems to hesitate from wanting to mention D-Day and then Carter says D-Day which may seem to mean he knew something highly secret. D-Day is a generic term used in the military for when an operation is going to be performed. What's known as WW2 D-Day in June 1944 was known by several code names with the main one being Operation Overlord.
- GoofsThe show was shot so that it was always winter, but several episodes feature factual occurrences not in winter. Most blatantly D-Day (in June) and Hitler's birthday (late April).
- Quotes
[first lines]
British General: [Col. Hogan enters his office] Hogan.
[closes the door to his office]
British General: Bit of a dirty trick flying into London for an hour, being a free man, and then dropping you back at Stalag 13.
Col. Hogan: Breaks up the day, sir.
British General: [laughs] You're a good man.
[pulls down a map]
British General: Guess what this is.
Col. Hogan: D-Day, sir?
British General: D-Day, and forget you saw it.
[rolls the map back up]
British General: Now, I can't tell you the exact date, but I can tell you this much: You have to be clear on the highest level of intelligence- the old man himself. But, the date will be soon.
Col. Hogan: It's been a long time coming, sir.
British General: A long time. And we don't want any mistakes- not on our part.
Col. Hogan: Yes, sir.
British General: Of course, we could use a few mistakes form Jerry. And that's why you're here, Hogan. Have a drink?
Col. Hogan: No thanks, sir.
British General: Well, don't mind if I do. Now, the German General Staff knows something is up. They're meeting tomorrow to pend a strategy- *that* we know for a fact.
Col. Hogan: Very good intelligence, sir.
British General: And we know more. Our bombers have pounded just about every spot in Germany they've used for a meeting place. So they're going where they don't think we'll follow them- Stalag 13.
Col. Hogan: You're gonna bomb us?
British General: [nods] It's been brought up. And we check it. Which is where you come in, Hogan. Sit down.
[Col. Hogan walks to the chair in front of his desk and sits down]
British General: Hogan, you have quite a reputation for the offbeat, the bizarre, and for bringing it off.
Col. Hogan: I have a good crew, sir.
British General: You're going to need them. Now, sometime in the next very few days, the greatest Amphibious force in history is going to hit the coast of France. When it does, we need desperately some indecision from the Germans before they react. Hogan, we want nothing less from you than to tie up the German General Staff. Can you do it?
Col. Hogan: I must say, sir, it's quite a challenge.
British General: That's good enough. The means, we leave up to you.
Col. Hogan: Thank you, sir.
British General: Oh, and one more thing. Our informant will also be at Stalag 13. She's the wife of General von Scheider- German Chief of Staff.
Col. Hogan: That's a pretty good informant.
British General: Well, yes and no. You see, we founded her years ago before she married von Scheider. And after that, we lost contact with her, deliberately. Too risky. And now, there's no reason to hold back. This is it. Use her if you can, Hogan. But remember, she has been away for almost a long time. Don't trust her completely unless you have to.
Col. Hogan: Yes, sir.
British General: [opens his office door] Good luck, Hogan.
Col. Hogan: Thanks.
[they salute]
British General: Carry on.
Spirited to London for a quick but crucial briefing, Colonel Hogan, leader of the intelligence and sabotage unit based at prisoner-of-war camp Stalag 13 run by Colonel Klink, receives orders to create a diversion that will hamstring the German general staff during Operation Overlord, the June 1944 Allied invasion of northern France (or the "second front" that Marya archly refers to in passing in Part Two of Powell's season two "A Tiger Hunt in Paris"). Hogan also has orders to, if feasible, engage Lilli von Scheider (Gail Kobe), married to chief of staff General von Scheider (Harold Gould) but actually a deep-cover Allied agent who has been left out in the cold for three years and whose allegiance is in question.
The diversion is typical Powell ridiculousness: Hogan's plan is to convince Klink that Adolf Hitler is replacing von Scheider with him. Since Hitler, voiced by Sergeant Kinchloe in a bogus telephone call to Klink, is fed up with his generals not following his orders, he will teach them a lesson by choosing the most incompetent colonel in the Wehrmacht (which refers to all of Nazi Germany's military branches including Klink's Luftwaffe), but one who can follow his orders, to be his new chief of staff. (There may be a real-world allusion here: Five months prior to this episode's original air date, the "Regime of the Colonels" overthrew the Greek government in a right-wing coup that lasted until 1974; this is dramatized in the 1969 Costa-Gavras movie "Z.")
And since members of the general staff, including von Scheider and his wife, are at Stalag 13 (under a fairly plausible premise), Klink is ideally positioned to drink champagne toasts with them--excepting von Scheider, of course--at least until the invasion hits and Klink is left floundering while faced with having to call the real Hitler regarding reinforcements, who had left strict orders not to be disturbed.
Factor out Klink, and Powell is generally accurate in his historical details. Yes, mentioned in passing are "Generals" Erwin Rommel, who commanded Army Group B charged with defending the Normandy beaches the Allies invaded, and Gerd von Rundstedt, who commanded the entire Western Front that included Normandy, who were actually field marshals, but--come on--"Hogan's Heroes" was a situation comedy, not the acclaimed documentary series "The World at War."
Besides, Powell adds dimension with the relationship between Lilli and von Scheider. True, that outcome is telegraphed from the start, and although Lilli's buy-in to Hogan's plan is crucial, Kobe doesn't really have much to do after her effective midpoint scene with Bob Crane while Gould spends the second half wandering around like a lovelorn schoolboy, but this subplot adds an element not usually associated with Powell: poignancy.
Add in Larry Hovis's assured spotlight as his Sergeant Carter impersonates an arrogant Gestapo major (if that's not redundant) and director Gene Reynolds's equally assured pacing and framing, and "D-Day at Stalag 13" hits the beaches hard. Is it really worth it? As Lilli aptly put it, "For laughs. Yes." And, this time, a little more.
- darryl-tahirali
- Apr 7, 2022