Operation Briefcase


Series:	Hogan's Heroes
Episode:	Operation Briefcase
Original Airdate:	October 7, 1966
Production Number:	5784-35
Written by:	Laurence Marks
Directed by:	Gene Reynolds
Produced by:	Edward H. Feldman & William A. Calihan

Regular[]

None

Hogan is ordered to give a German general a briefcase containing a time bomb to aid him in an assassination plot against Hitler.

This is both the thirty-fifth produced episode of the series and the thirty-sixth episode to be shown on television, and is the fourth episode of the Second Season.
This is the second time that none of the semi-regulars have appeared in two episodes in a row.
This is one of the few on-screen appearances of Sergeant Wilson, medic for our heroes. It is the only time he is ever called by name. It is also the only time we ever see him perform his job as a medic.
Near the end of the episode Klink exclaims "Donnerwetter!". The literal translation is "Thunderstorm!" but it is also slang for "damnit". It can also imply stronger expletives. Both Klink and Schultz will use this German expletive from time to time in future episodes. It may have been a sly means by the series' producers of getting around American broadcast standards at the time.
General Stauffen is named after the actual perpetrator of the failed July 20th plot, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg.

This episode takes place in the summer of 1944, and alludes to a real plot to kill Hitler. The last scene of the episode apparently takes place on the same day as the real-life attempt on Hitler - July 20, 1944.
The real-life attempt on Hitler's life went awry only because the briefcase being used was unknowningly moved by an aide from where it had originally been placed. The bomb still injured Hitler but it did not kill him as intended, although it killed several of the people around him. Almost all of the conspirators would be dead by the end of the war, killed by Hitler's minions or dead by their own hand in order to escape arrest.
London probably learned about General Stauffen and his supporters from the list of anti-Hitler conspirators obtained by our heroes in Duel of Honor.
On July 11, 1944, Stauffenberg attended Hitler's conferences carrying a bomb in his briefcase, but because the conspirators had decided that Heinrich Himmler and Hermann Göring should be killed simultaneously if the planned mobilization of Operation Valkyrie was to have a chance to succeed, he held back at the last minute because Himmler was not present.

(Schultz to Kinch after he was late for roll call)

Schultz: ... Where have you been? Nothing is more important than roll call. What kept you?
Kinch: I was gettin' a message from London on our secret radio.
Schultz: Well, as long as you have a good excuse… (chuckles) Secret radio…(chuckles) in a POW camp… (chuckles, but not sure if he was told the truth) impossible!
Kinch: Now he tells me.

All prisoners cheer at the news.

Guard: What are you doing outside your barracks?
Carter: Oh, I… I… I’m looking for Felix. I… I guess he ran away.
Guard: What?
Carter: Felix. My pet mouse. Everybody knows Felix. You know, he… he’s about this big. (uses fingers to measure a couple of inches) Has a nice little smile. Except when cats are around, of course.
Guard: Get back in the barracks or I will report you.
Carter: Wha…? And leave Felix out here alone? There are dogs roaming around and they double as cats in wartime.

The communications room can be seen just off to the left as LeBeau, Newkirk, and Kinch go up the ladder to the tree stump exit. The communications room is supposed to be underneath their barracks and the exit is outside the fence line.
Hercules is dropped from a Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar airplane. The C-119 was an American military transport aircraft developed from the World War II Fairchild C-82 Packet, designed to carry cargo, personnel, litter patients, and mechanized equipment, and to drop cargo and troops by parachute. The first C-119 made its initial flight in November 1947, and went into use by the military in December 1949.
Hogan thought General Stauffen was on his way to Berchtesgaden. The briefcase bomb attempt on Hitler's life took place at Wolfsschanze, or Wolf's Lair, located in the Masurian Woods, about 8 kilometers from the small East Prussian town of Rastenburg, now Kętrzyn in Poland.

Previous episode:
Diamonds in the Rough

Next episode:
The Battle of Stalag 13