Hogan's Heroes

Hogan's Heroes (1965)

11 factual errors in season 4 - chronological order

(23 votes)

How to Catch a Papa Bear - S4-E3

Factual error: In the tunnel Hogan loads a magazine into a US issue .45 pistol and points it at Myra, but he never chambered a round and didn't cock the hammer on the pistol. The .45 pistol in WW2 was single action. For a single action pistol to fire, a round needs to be chambered and the hammer has to be cocked manually before the trigger is pulled and the pistol to fire. (00:22:00)

Snag.1

Color the Luftwaffe Red - S4-E8

Factual error: The medal Newkirk steals from the German officer in the pub is a Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. There were a total of 148 presentations, most of them 1943-45. By 1942 (where the series is apparently set), less than 25 had been presented. That Newkirk should actually stumble across a wearer by pure chance is highly unlikely, that the wearer should actually "never miss it" as Newkirk states, is plainly impossible. Being the fourth highest ranking military decoration of the Wehrmacht, it would have been missed almost immediately - if not by the wearer himself, then by his fellow officers. (00:22:35)

Doc

Guess Who Came to Dinner? - S4-E9

Factual error: Schultz says, Von Grubner has "a castle right next to the Führer's in Berchtesgaden." Hitler's famous real estate in Obersalzberg wasn't a castle but a mountain chalet based on a former farm estate called the "Steinhaus".

Doc

Bad Day in Berlin - S4-E11

Factual error: Hogan and his men are in Berlin to capture a traitor. They arrive at the Hotel Berlin in an ambulance and park near a K2 phone booth, something only found in England and its colonies, certainly never in the heart of Nazi Germany. (00:13:55)

von

Will the Blue Baron Strike Again? - S4-E12

Factual error: The "Blue Baron" tells the dancer that the Kaiser gave him a certain medal. In fact, the medal he points to (and the girl fondles) is a WW2 repeat badge to the Iron Cross first class, instituted in 1939 to denote presentations of the Iron Cross first class to personnel who had already received it in WW1. He may have received the original Iron Cross from the Kaiser, but by the time he had a chance to receive that repeat badge, the Kaiser was long through handing out medals. (00:15:10)

Doc

Man in a Box - S4-E14

Factual error: When the safe doors blow, we have another case of a fuse still burning after the charge blows. Since the charge blows when the fuse is burnt up, that's literally impossible. (00:20:00)

Doc

Klink's Old Flame - S4-E20

Factual error: When the farmer sticks his pitchfork into the haystack, a scream is heard, but then everybody emerges unscathed. Wounds from pitchforks aren't like sitting on a brass tack - even a quick jab usually earns you a trip to the surgeon (I've seen such wounds), a vigorous stab like the one in the scene would go through limbs and could easily kill a man. There's no way anybody would walk away from such a hit.

Doc

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Trivia: A sinister aspect of an otherwise lightheated comedy, but the fact is that Hogan and his men are war criminals. They engage in combat activities behind enemy lines when not in uniform, and worse, while wearing enemy uniforms. The Germans tried that during the Battle of the Bulge and those arrested were shot.

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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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