Hogan’s Heroes is a sitcom about a German prisoner of war camp during World War II, but it is not a serious war drama. It is a comedy built on the premise that the camp’s commandant, Colonel Wilhelm Klink, is so incompetent that the Allied prisoners can run an entire espionage operation right underneath him. The show ran for six seasons, 168 episodes, on CBS from September 17, 1965, to March 28, 1971. It stars Bob Crane as Colonel Robert E. Hogan, the leader of the operation, and features Werner Klemperer as Klink and John Banner as Sergeant Hans Schultz.
The setup is simple. Hogan and his crew are not just prisoners; they are a covert operations unit that uses the camp as a base for sabotage and intelligence gathering. They bribe, blackmail, and manipulate German officers, including Klink, who never suspects a thing. The show is a blend of wartime shows, spy shows, and camp comedy, and it leans heavily on the absurdity of its premise.
The Camp and Its Commanding Officers
The fictional camp is called Luft Stalag 13, located just outside the town of Hammelburg in Nazi Germany. The show sets the action in the permanent winter season, which serves a practical purpose: it keeps the outdoor sets consistent and allows episodes to be shown in any order without worrying about continuity. The camp has 103 Allied prisoners of war during the first season, though that number grows by the end of the series.
Klink is the comic fulcrum. He is a pompous fool who is proud of his perfect no-escape record, unaware that Hogan and his men are the ones keeping it intact. He is a double-edged sword for actor Werner Klemperer, who comes from a Jewish family and whose father was the orchestral conductor Otto Klemperer. His agent initially failed to tell him that the role was intended to be comedic, and Klemperer made a condition for taking the job: if the show ever wrote a segment where Klink came out the hero, he would leave.
Banner plays Sergeant Hans Schultz as a bumbling, affable man who gives out information for bribes or simply by talking too much. He is afraid of being sent to the Eastern Front for allowing any subversive activity on his watch, so he never reports the prisoners. His catchphrase, “I know nothing!” is a constant refrain. Both actors are Jewish and fled Nazi Germany; Banner also served in the U.S. Army during World War II as a sergeant.
The Cast and Their Roles
Bob Crane plays Hogan as the senior ranking POW officer and the leader of the men. He uses his wit and ingenuity to commit sabotage and obtain military information. Crane was offered the role after appearing as “guy next door” types in shows like The Dick Van Dyke Show and as a regular in The Donna Reed Show. He brings a steady presence to the lead role.
Robert Clary plays French Corporal Louis LeBeau, a gourmet chef and a patriotic Frenchman. Richard Dawson plays Peter Newkirk, and Larry Hovis plays Andrew Carter. The cast is rounded out by a supporting group of Allied prisoners who rarely get significant roles beyond the main ensemble.
The Espionage Operation
The show’s central mechanism is the secret network of tunnels that runs under the camp. Hogan and his men use these tunnels to help escaped Allied POWs from other prison camps while conducting sabotage and espionage against Nazi Germany. They cooperate with resistance groups, defectors, spies, counterspies, and disloyal German officers to accomplish their goals.
The prisoners sometimes bribe or blackmail otherwise loyal German officers to manipulate their actions. Under Hogan’s leadership, the prisoners devise schemes such as having Sergeant Carter visit the camp disguised as Adolf Hitler as a distraction or rescuing a French Underground agent from Gestapo headquarters in Paris. These plots are elaborate and often involve the whole camp pretending to be normal while the operation unfolds.
The show is a product of its era. It combines several writing styles popular in the 1960s: the wartime show, the spy show, and the camp comedy. The result is a show that treats the war as a backdrop for jokes rather than a tragedy. This is a deliberate choice, and it is the show’s greatest strength and its biggest flaw.
The Setting and Continuity
The setting is fictional, and the show takes liberties with geography. The camp is described as being near Hammelburg, but the show’s map of Germany places it much farther north than the real city, closer to Düsseldorf, which the show identifies as the nearest large city. This inconsistency is noted in the series overview, and it reflects the broader approach to continuity: the show is less concerned with realism than with convenience.
There are frequent references throughout the series to Düsseldorf being the nearest large city, and Düsseldorf is much farther northwest. In the season 1 episode “German Bridge Is Falling Down,” Hogan points to a map, and he is clearly pointing to northwest Germany (if anything, even farther north than Düsseldorf). Episodes with obvious non-winter settings, such as “D-Day at Stalag 13,” either do not film any scene on the outdoor set or are careful not to show any “snow.”
The show’s creators chose to recreate an extreme or adverse setting to prevent continuity problems and to allow the episodes to be shown in any order. That decision shapes the look of the show and explains why the camp is perpetually covered in snow.
What Works and What Doesn’t
The show is uneven. Some episodes are sharp and clever, playing off the absurdity of the situation. Others feel like filler, repeating the same gags without adding anything new. The show is at its best when it trusts the premise and lets the characters bounce off each other.
The chemistry between the leads is strong. Crane and Klemperer have a natural rapport, and Banner’s Schultz is a reliably funny foil. The show also benefits from guest stars who play the game, treating the premise seriously enough to make the jokes land.
The show is not subtle. It makes light of the war and its victims, and it treats the Nazis as buffoons rather than a real threat. This is a comedy from the 1960s, and it reflects the attitudes of its time. Modern audiences may find it uncomfortable, but it is not the show’s intention to offend. It is a comedy, and it is meant to entertain.
The Legacy
The show has been broadcast in reruns ever since its original run ended in 1971. It remains a fixture of syndicated television, where it continues to find audiences who enjoy its particular brand of humor. The show’s influence can be seen in later comedies that use similar premises, but it has never matched its own success.
The show is a product of its time, and it should be judged as such. It is not a great show, but it is a fun one. It knows what it is and does not try to be more than that.
The show is a guilty pleasure for some and a missed opportunity for others. It is a comedy that is best enjoyed without taking it seriously.
- Title: Hogan’s Heroes
- Network: CBS
- Seasons: 6
- Episodes: 168
- First aired: September 17, 1965
- Last aired: March 28, 1971
- Creator: Bernard Fein, Albert S. Ruddy
- Stars: Bob Crane, Werner Klemperer, John Banner, Robert Clary, Richard Dawson, Larry Hovis
The show is a product of its time, and it should be judged as such. It is not a great show, but it is a fun one. It knows what it is and does not try to be more than that.
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