The Big Record

Prisoners

 * Colonel Hogan - Bob Crane
 * Corporal Louis LeBeau - Robert Clary
 * Corporal Peter Newkirk - Richard Dawson
 * Sergeant Andrew Carter - Larry Hovis
 * Sergeant Richard Baker - Kenneth Washington

Camp Personnel

 * Kommandant Wilhelm Klink - Werner Klemperer
 * Sergeant Hans Schultz - John Banner

Semi-Regulars

 * General Albert Burkhalter - Leon Askin

Guest Stars

 * Col. Schneider - John Myhers
 * S. S. Man - Jack Riley

Synopsis
Klink gives the prisoners a recorder so they can send messages home which Hogan plans on using to tape a top secret SS meeting.

Story Notes

 * This is both the one hundred and fifty-fourth produced episode of the series, but is the one hundred and fifty-third to be shown on television, and is also the ninth episode shown for the Sixth Season.
 * Klink and the Hammelburg Quartet play the String Quartet in D Major by Mozart during the fake recording session.
 * A contemporaneous American singer is mentioned: Nelson Eddy.
 * A famous fairy tale is mentioned: Goldilock and The Three Bears.
 * One of Klink's off-duty activities includes organizing and playing first violin for a string quartet in Hammelburg. The names of the other members of his group come from the German Navy - Herr Hipper (the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper), Herr Raeder (Grand Admiral of the wartime German Navy), and Herr Eugen (the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen).
 * Klink is a fan of the violinist Kleinschmitt and has all of his records.
 * Schultz sings "Swanee" in this episode.
 * Carter correctly observes that there is no longer a tunnel to the rec hall (as it was filled in after the end of a previous episode).

Timeline Notes and Speculations

 * This probably takes place in October of 1944, right after Operation Market Garden. The Allied armies are stalled at the Rhine River, as is shown on the map in Burkhalter's office. The plans Hogan wants are for Luftwaffe support for a planned German attack against the Allies. On the 21st, when the Luftwaffe attacked the Allies (at the same time that they began their first attempt to cross the Rhine), it managed to break up Allied air cover, as American fighter reinforcements were late in arriving to the scene. When they finally arrived, however, they tore up the German aircraft formations. The Germans suffered heavy aircraft losses before breaking off, so the encounter could not be considered a victory - especially on the first day of the battle.