Hogan's Heroes

Hogan's Heroes (1965)

9 factual errors in season 2 - chronological order

(23 votes)

Hogan Gives a Birthday Party - S2-E1

Factual error: When the crew in the plane gets ready to drop the bombs on the refinery, Hogan (in the pilot seat) tells Carter (who is looking through the bomb sight) exactly when to push the button. In fact, the pilot of a WW2 bomber had no way of even knowing when exactly to release the bombs - it was the job of the bombardier, looking through his targeting optics, to know that. Carter at the bomb sight should be telling Hogan how exactly to steer to get the bombs onto the target.

Doc

The Rise and Fall of Sergeant Schultz - S2-E6

Factual error: General Kamler awards Schultz what he calls "The Iron Cross Fourth Grade." There never was a version of the Iron cross called that. The Iron cross came in two ranks, called 2nd class ("zweiter Klasse") and 1st class ("erster Klasse"). The ranks higher than that were called the Knight's Cross ("Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes") and were never pinned to the chest but worn around the neck.

Doc

Information Please - S2-E15

Factual error: The German agent pretending to be an American pilot is wearing a one piece flying suit from the 1960's when he is questioned by Hogan and the British escapee in the barracks. It even has the US Air Force logo on the sleeve, which didn't come into use until 1947, after the war.

stiiggy

The Great Brinksmeyer Robbery - S2-E18

Factual error: In the restaurant in Hammelburg, where Schultz discovers Hogan and Newkirk, there's an advertisement for "Brauerei der Jager, Stadt Wien." (Wien = Vienna) Vienna and Hammelburg are more than 500km apart, and if Hammelburg were near Düsseldorf, where the series puts it, it would be more like 700km. That's a bit far away for a brewery to advertise in the pre-globalisation era.

Doc

Praise the Fuhrer and Pass the Ammunition - S2-E19

Factual error: In the ammunition dump, a sign saying "Warnung Hoche Sprenggefahr" can be seen. That is not correct German. First, and foremost, it must be "hohe" and not "hoche", the latter form does not exist. Secondly, the word "Sprenggefahr", while not formally wrong, was never used in German. Depending on what the meaning of the sign is supposed to be, it must either be "Explosionsgefahr", if the overall danger of an explosion is meant, or if the property of the ammunition of being explosive is meant, it should be "Hochexplosiv." If the general presence of explosive material is being warned of, "Explosivstoffe" or "Hochexplosives Material" would be possible.

Doc

The Swing Shift - S2-E21

Factual error: In this episode, the HofBrau (which should correctly be written "Hofbräu") is displaying a big red neon sign above its door. From 1939 on, air raid regulations throughout Germany strictly prohibited any unnecessary display of light at night. Any light visible from more than 500m away was considered a breach of air raid regulations.

Doc

The Top Secret Top Coat - S2-E29

Factual error: In Klink's quarters, there's an (obviously fake) banana in the fruit bowl. Bananas were luxury items in Europe in the 1940s, and certainly so in war-torn Germany. The majority of Germans didn't have access to exotic fruit until the 1960s, and fake fruit of this type wasn't available then either.

Doc

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The Antique - S5-E12

Question: When Hogan gives Klink $100 for the cuckoo clock, the bill handed over was a crisp American $100 note. How did Hogan get an American $100 note? At best, in this time period, he should only have Reich Marks. And how would he have 333 Marks, 33 pfennigs? Unless he had a side businesses going, this seems unlikely.

Movie Nut

Answer: It's a comedy, not a documentary.

stiiggy

Perhaps it was counterfeit. There are numerous episodes where they deal in counterfeit monies.

Answer: Werner Klemperer fled Nazi Germany as a teenager. His two conditions for taking the role of Colonel Klink were that he had to be a bumbling idiot and he always had to lose. It would then be a character mistake that if Hogan offers him a fresh American hundred-dollar bill, he's not going to ask questions, he's going to take the deal. The fact that he's Commandant and could just confiscate the money from Hogan would never occur to him because, again, he's a bumbling idiot who, by the actor's contract, always has to lose.

Captain Defenestrator

Chosen answer: Hogan and his men are running a spy ring out of the camp, they have access to supplies from outside. (In another episode, they have to convince a defecting German officer that they're legitimately working for the Allies by arranging a specific personal ad to run in the next day's London Times, so a new $100 bill is not beyond their capabilities).

Captain Defenestrator

Answer: Rightfully, Hogan should not have any money at all. POW were stripped of all cash they carried. The intention was to make escape more difficult. The fact that Hogan has what is the equivalent of a third of the price of a KdF-Wagen (You'd probably know it as a Volkswagen Beetle) in cash should rightfully make Klink more than a litle suspicious.

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