Major Strauss

Major Strauss was the Kommandant of Luft-Stalag V (Stalag 5). During his tenure there, as Kommandant, the Stalag suffered over a hundred escapes; in an effort to combat this poor-effectiveness, Major Strauss became an observer at Stalag 13, upon the orders of General Burkhalter. While observing "The Kommandant of The Most Escape-proof Prison Camp in All of Germany", a task that he loathed, he discovered, while studying the Camp Ledger, a series of discrepancies... discrepancies that put a bad light on Mr. Klink's moral character. After prodding both Schultz and Klink for answers, he confronted Klink and told him of his intentions to tell General Burkhalter, who was currently presiding as Acting-Kommandant of Stalag 5. After insinuating Klink, and telling him his best options were a firing squad or the Russian Front, not necessarily in that order, Klink approached, and told him, that he could get seven of the recently escaped POWs from Stalag 5. Major Strauss agreed to drop the False Ledger issue, if Klink could get his prisoners back. Upon receiving the prisoners, he was quizzical on how, exactly, Klink had been able to capture them (in reality, they had simply walked to the gates, shouting Kamerad, and Schultz ordered the guards to let them in!). Within a half-hour of surrendering, and less than a few minutes after receiving them, a Transport Truck entered Stalag 13 with "orders" from "General Burkhalter" to pickup the prisoners. Quizzical on how General Burkhalter heard of the re-capture so quickly, the "Hauptmann" of the "Transport detail" informed him that an anonymous caller had informed the General. Thinking it was Klink who had made the call, Major Strauss decided that he, himself, should accompany the detail back to Stalag 5, in order to assure that General Burkhalter would commend him, and not Klink, in the re-capture of the prisoners. After leaving Stalag 13, Major Strauss, the Hauptmann, the Seven guards, and the Seven POWs were never heard from again.

In reality, the Hauptmann and the Seven guards were an American Bomber crew that had been shot down over the local area, who had received fake Luftwaffe uniforms and a Transport Truck from Stalag 13. All fifteen Allies, along with Major Strauss, would make their way to England to resume their part in the war effort, except for the latter, who would most likely end up in a POW camp.

Notes: See also:
 * Major Strauss was portrayed by Veteran Hogan's Heroes actor Noam Pitlik
 * Judging from his uniform, it is likely that Major Strauss was in a combat unit (probably on the Eastern Front), prior to becoming Kommandant of Stalag 5
 * Standing Room Only
 * List of Stalags