User Reviews

Among the better episodes of the series, and loosely based upon the actual history of the D-Day invasion. While the premise is greatly implausible, it is nevertheless a well written episode that focuses upon confusion created within the German High Command on the outset of the D-Day invasion at Normandy, how this confusion caused disastrous indecision for the Germans.

The plot uses the historical truths of the general staff's disagreement over Normandy being the main invasion, vice a complex diversion, as well as the direct command authority to deploy the Panzer Lehr division that Hitler usurped for himself. As the episode shows, Hitler ordered that his bed rest be not disturbed.

So intimidated was his personal staff, that not even the pleas of the local commanders of the invasion would convince anyone to wake Hitler up. So, the panzer reserve was kept in reserve, vice immediately deployed to counter the invasion force.

While comedic for this episode, the plot is nevertheless based upon solid historical facts! It shows the imbecility of the decision making, and while humorous, also provides interesting insight into how bureaucracy and ego can cause catastrophic errors.

This episode begins in London as Hogan has made a trip to Allied Command for instruction on the invasion at Normandy. What the Allies have found out is that the German Chief of Staff Officers will be having a meeting at Stalag 13. They want Hogan and his men to try and delay the staff from sending reinforcements to the invasion area which will help the landing. They also tell Hogan that the wife of General Von Scheider, Lilli, use to give some information to the Allies and she may be of use during this time.

The plan that Hogan comes up with is to convince the entire command staff that the chief, Scheider, is being replaced by our own Colonel Klink. We find out that no one on the command staff wants to go against the orders of Hitler and seem to get in line with new General named Klink. But when the phone calls start coming in about the invasion we know Klink is going to fumble the ball.

There is a sad element in this show which made the entire story touching. But do not think they leave any comedy out, as Klink runs around the offices as proud as any peacock- that is until the kitchen heats up. The episode was different from the usual stories but was also very entertaining. Good watch.

No stranger to outlandishness, Richard Powell sets his sights on "D-Day at Stalag 13" as his solid script blends farce and facts into an effective story that doesn't belabor his outrageous conceit while injecting some credible pathos into his humorous premise.

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.

This is a good episode but for me there's a lingering thought that D Day wasn't and isn't funny. Maybe it's the same as those who don't like the POW aspect. Maybe I'm overthinking it. It's still a good story with funny lines. A good watch.