The Prisoner's Prisoner

Prisoners

 * Colonel Hogan - Bob Crane
 * Corporal Louis LeBeau - Robert Clary
 * Corporal Peter Newkirk - Richard Dawson
 * Sergeant James Kinchloe - Ivan Dixon
 * Sergeant Andrew Carter - Larry Hovis

Camp Personnel

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

Semi-Regulars
None

Guest Stars

 * General Schmidt - Roger C. Carmel
 * Sergeant Walters - John Orchard
 * Fräulein - Inge Jaklin

Synopsis
A British commando gives Hogan the assignment he failed at: blow up an ammo dump. Once done, Hogan uses a German general to find out where he is planning to attack.

Plot Details
At the start of the episode, Schultz has just finished taking a count of the prisoners of Barracks 2 during roll call and then informs Klink that the prisoners of that barracks are all there. Klink asks Hogan how many men there are in his barracks. Hogan answers 15. Klink immediately tells him that he is wrong, that in fact he has 16 men, as a wounded British Commando, Sergeant Walters, is introduced and then placed among Hogan's men. He then tells Hogan that Walters has earlier been part of a Commandos unit of seven men who have been captured trying to destroy an ammo dump. After roll call is over, Hogan and Walters are seen talking among themselves outside the barracks, with Walters telling Hogan what has happened: he tells Hogan that the ammo dump is actually the secret headquarters of a General Schmidt. The General's unit is planning a surprise attack somewhere, but London has no idea where or when the attack is to occur. London has therefore sent out the Commandos to destroy both the ammo dump and the headquarters in order to prevent the expected attack. Sadly, the Germans has captured them before they could complete their mission and Walters has gotten himself wounded in the process. He then tells Hogan that the other six are being sent to another camp. Hogan tells Walters and Carter, who has just joined them, that he and his men would finish the job. A surprised Walters then asks Hogan how they are going to get to the dump, considering the distance between it and Stalag 13. Hogan tells Walters that Klink would be providing their transportation before he heads for Klink's office.

Hogan goes to Klink, and soon convinces him to demand that General Schmidt give him the other prisoners, after telling Klink that he has been hearing rumors that the camp is to be shut down and that he is to be sent to the Urals because he has been sent only one of the seven Commandos. After Klink is able to get the other prisoners sent to the camp, Hogan leaves Klink's office and tells Carter that their transportation has been provided. Carter still isn't sure that the plan will work, but Hogan decides that they're going to try anyway.

Later, Hogan and Carter hitch a ride with the truck that is being sent to pick up the Commandos. After their arrival at the ammo dump/headquarters and after Schultz goes inside the main building to collect the Commandos, Hogan and Carter exits from the outer left hand side of the truck and heads for the ammo dump to finish setting up the time bomb for detonation. The two soon enters the building's wine cellar where the bomb has been hidden by the Commandos and starts searching for it among the wine bottles. The pair soon find the bomb, and start to set the timer for 20 minutes. They then hear some noises coming from another room. Carter heads for the door, and soon opens it. They discover General Schmidt seated inside the room on a couch with a local fräulein who is obviously his dinner date. Hogan soon joins Carter and the pair sees the General, after the couple has run out of wine, coming towards the wine cellar to get some more. Upon hearing this, Hogan gives Carter a wine bottle to use on the General's head once he is inside the room. The two wait, and after General Schmidt comes inside, Carter walks up behind him and knocks him out with the bottle. The fräulein, who hears the wine bottle hitting against Schmidt's head, gets up from the couch and walks towards the room. Once she is inside the darkened room, she is quickly intercepted by Hogan, who kisses her on the lips, and then tells her Good Night in German, as he pretends to be the General. She quickly leaves after the kiss. Hogan then tells Carter, after the latter suggests that they get out of there, that they are going to take the still unconscious General with them, much to Carter's surprise. Although Carter protests, Hogan eventually convinces him to help him take the General into the truck and take him with them back to the camp.

The truck returns to camp. Upon its arrival, Schultz, as he carries a clipboard with him, orders the six Commandos out of the truck. After the Commandos have left the truck, and while Schultz is making sure that he has all of them, Hogan and Carter come out of their hiding place inside the truck and Hogan exits the truck. As Carter stays with Schmidt, Hogan joins Schultz, telling him that he is the welcoming committee. He then tells Schultz that he seems to be a man short and then tells him that he has probably lost the seventh man on the way to the camp along a bumpy road. Shultz tells him that he is only suppose to have six men, not seven, but he starts to worry when Hogan reminds him about what Klink is expecting. But before Schultz can get back into the truck to search for the seventh man, Hogan, who has walked over to the back of the truck, looks inside and finds the seventh man, a still groggy General Schmidt. He asks the Commandos to help remove the General, while he goes over to Schultz and writes down the seventh prisoner's name on the clipboard, 'Finnegan'. As the groggy General is being taken to Barracks 2, he tells Carter to tell Kinch to contact London, and tell them that they'd blown up Schmidt's headquarters and that they have Schmidt. Carter tells the Colonel that he's not sure that they're going to have him long once he is fully awake, and that Schmidt is then going to contact Klink to let him out. Hogan then tells him not if he gets to Klink first, before he heads off to change back to his regular clothes and then go to Klink's office to perform a bit of disinformation.

Inside Klink's office, Klink tells Hogan that he has gotten the other Commandos, then gives Hogan the list with their names on it. Hogan looks over the list, then stands aghast, which catches Klink's attention. After a while, and acting as though he is at first reluctant to tell him, he informs Klink that the reason for his earlier reaction, is because it appears that one of the Commandos on the list is actually "The Grey Phantom" in disguise, a master of escape, who, if given the chance, would try to escape from Stalag 13, thus ruining Klink's perfect record of no successful prisoners' escapes, and causing them to get the blame. Klink quickly buys into Hogan's story, while telling him that he would thwart "The Grey Phantom". At this point, an angry General Schmidt appears in Klink's office, asking Klink how he has gotten into the camp and then ordering Klink to let him use his phone so that he can call his staff so that they can get him. Klink doesn't believe that the person he sees before him is General Schmidt, partly because he hears Hogan call him "The Grey Phantom" before he starts saying that he is the real General Schmidt, and partly because he knows that General Schmidt's headquarters has been destroyed last night, and that everyone believes that he'd died in the explosion. So, Klink, at first, allows Schmidt to touch his phone before slapping his fingers with a riding crop, and then telling him that he can't be Schmidt since General Schmidt has died when his base blew up and that he wants him out of his office. An exasperated Schmidt then leaves, followed by Hogan.

Once they are outside of Klink's office, Hogan is met by Kinch and Newkirk, with Kinch telling him that London is happy to hear that Schimdt's headquarters is destroyed, but they now need to know where his division is so that they can destroy it as well. With that in mind, Hogan walks over to an angry General Schmidt, telling him that he has no idea why Klink didn't recognize him, which Schmidt didn't understand either. Hogan then tells him that he's sure that contacting his staff would clear it all up, before telling a surprised Schmidt that he is willing to help him contact his second-in-command by bribing one of the guards. Schmidt starts to say yes, but then refuses, saying that he has five days to wait before his own plan comes to fruition. He then heads for Barrack 2. When the plan doesn't work, a disappointed Hogan then tells Newkirk that they are going to make the General believe that he is getting sick, deadly sick, and to prepare "The Mighty Hogan Art Players".

In Barracks 2, Hogan starts the operation by telling the General, who is playing a game of chess by himself, he still has no idea why Klink didn't recognize him when he did. Schmidt wonders the same thing, although Hogan then tells him that it might has been because he doesn't look the same as he does in his picture. Hogan then warns Schmidt about a nasty disease that is presently going through the camp called the "deadly prison plague", or DPP for short, a (fake) malady that is supposed to be very deadly. He then points over to a couple of empty bunks, claiming that they has once belonged to a couple of recent victims of the plague. After the General rejects Hogan's suggestion that he is sick and that he needs to contact his men so that he can get some medical attention, Schmidt asks Hogan why he wants to help him. Hogan tells him that he admires Schmidt and that he is a very ambitious man and that he knows who is going to win the war and that he wants to help the winning side, and that in exchange for defecting he only wants to be made the Bürgermeister of Cleveland after the war. Schmidt acknowledges that Germany will eventually be in America and that Germany would be able to win on its own. Schmidt then goes towards one of the bunk beds. As he does, and Hogan continues to warn him about the DPP, Hogan bangs a hand against the top bunk of the bed that Schmidt is now lying on, which results in a wooden board containing several small, lighted canisters being slid under the bottom bunk, before the General goes to bed.

A short time after that, Newkirk, who is dressed for cold weather, exits Hogan's office and heads for a sweating General Schmidt. As he starts talking to Schmidt, complaining about how cold the room is, he sees how hot the General looks, before calling for Hogan. Hogan comes out and seeing that the General is sweating, calls for Carter and Kinch to come in with some blankets, while Kinch is also carrying some chains. After Kinch places the chains atop Schmidt's legs and then cover them up with the second blanket, Hogan mentions to Schmidt that he at least hasn't reached the stage where he can't move his legs. But, thanks to the chains, Schmidt is unable to move his legs. Then LeBeau appears, soon getting 'all emotional' as he sees another person about to fall victim to the plague before he heads back into Hogan's office. Next, after the others go back into his office, Hogan is talking about the next symptom, before Kinch and Newkirk starts to shake the bed using a couple of poles that Hogan has earlier just attached to the bottom of the bed, soon making Schmidt fear that he does indeed have the shakes and chills. Next, the bed starts to catch on fire, thanks to the canisters, which Carter and Kinch try to beat out with a couple of pillows before Newkirk puts it out using a sand-filled bucket, while Hogan explains that he is now so hot that he's burning up the bed. LeBeau then reappears with what looks like a coffin before Hogan tells him to take it back. He then apologizes to the now getting concerned Schmidt, since it looks like LeBeau is jumping the gun. Schmidt is about to ask Hogan to contact his men, but then stops himself. Later, London once again asks for Hogan to find out where Schmidt's unit is. London is soon informed by Hogan that General Schmidt is about to crack.

Schmidt, now depressed, is watching the prisoners have a Christmas party, which includes Schultz dressing himself up as Santa, although it is at least three more months before Christmas, mainly because they think that he wouldn't last that much longer because of the 'plague'. After being given some gifts by the prisoners, and then hearing them sing a few carols, Schmidt finally gives in and reveals to Hogan and his men the location of his troops - Heidelheim. As Hogan's men leave, still singing, Schmidt then asks to contact his second-in-command. Before he does, Hogan tells him that he now wants to be made the Bürgermeister of not only Cleveland, but also Cincinnati, before he leaves. London is soon told about the location of Schmidt's troops so that they can now figure out how to destroy them.

The episode ends with a couple of new prisoners, who has just escaped from another camp, shown exiting from the rising bed entrance, and then hearing Newkirk tell them that while they are at the camp they would be using the names Walters and 'Finnegan', to help keep the count accurate until they are finally sent on their way to England. As they are being processed, Hogan walks past them, along with Walters and General Schmidt, both of whom are now wearing civilian clothes as they are being sent to England, because of what Schmidt has finally revealed to Hogan. Hogan tells a dejected Schmidt that during their travels to England to not say anything in English, while he tells Walters to keep an eye on him. He also informs Schmidt that when they get to England, he would be placed inside a nice prison cell. Schmidt, then Walters, heads down the ladder into the tunnels to start their journey to England.

Story Notes

 * This is both the sixth produced episode of the series, and the sixth one to be shown on television.
 * This is the first episode that Corporal LeBeau is seen in the red sweater "uniform". For the rest of the series, his character appears in the red sweater as his daily prisoner uniform outfit. In the first 5 episodes of the show, he is wearing a blue sweater.
 * Schultz dresses up as Santa Claus for a Christmas party held in Barracks 2.
 * Roger C. Carmel is one of the more outrageous character actors of 60s TV, with his most famous role being the slimy Harry Mudd on Star Trek.
 * When Schultz delivers new prisoners to Stalag 13, Hogan states that he is from the "Welcome Wagon." Welcome Wagon is a group which welcomes folks to their new neighborhood with gifts and offers of local services. The organization was founded in 1928.
 * The Travelers Aid Organization, which is mentioned in both this episode and in the pilot episode, is an organization based in St. Louis, Missouri which helps out stranded travelers.
 * Two American cities are mentioned in the episode: Cleveland and Cincinnati.
 * The term 'The Mighty Hogan Art Players' is used for the first time in this episode.

Timeline Notes and Speculations

 * This episode probably takes place near the end of September or the beginning of October, 1943.
 * Christmas is celebrated in this episode, even though General Schmidt complains the holiday is still three months away.
 * Klink's wartime news announcement may be related to the failed Soviet paratroop assault on Kaniv - September 24, 1943.
 * The destruction of the munitions dump is later referenced in It Takes a Thief... Sometimes.

Quotes
After Sergeant Walters have recently arrived at Stalag 13 and he has just told Colonel Hogan about the failure of his commando unit's mission and then the sergeant's reaction upon being told by Hogan that he and his men would complete his mission:


 * Walters: You're not thinking of going there?
 * Hogan: Why not? It's in the neighborhood.
 * Walters: You mean, you're going to stage a raid from a prison camp? You must be daft! That's fifty miles away, right through the heart of Germany. How are you going to get there?
 * Hogan: Through our local travelers aid man, Colonel Klink.

Hogan is working on Klink's vanity as he tries to convince him to transfer the other six commandos to Stalag 13:


 * Hogan (to Klink): Six went to Kleinfeld. Six. You got one. Six to one. And yours with a busted flipper, a factory second.

And after Klink is convinced


 * Klink (phoning Kleinfeld): You caught seven paratroopers, seven! What do I get? Just one. One paratrooper, and with a busted flipper no less! I want the other six too.

Later, after Carter has knocked out General Schmidt with a wine bottle after the General has come into the wine cellar inside the ammo dump/secret headquarters that they are preparing for destruction:


 * Carter: Let's get out of here!
 * Hogan: Let's get our prisoner first.
 * Carter: We haven't got time... Our what? We can't keep a prisoner!
 * Hogan: Well, we've got our own prison. What better place to keep him.
 * Carter: But we're prisoners!
 * Hogan: So what? Just because we're prisoners doesn't mean we can't have our own prisoners.
 * Carter: It's impossible.
 * Hogan: There's a rule or something? The Geneva Convention - not a word. We got our rights; we're as good as they are. Look, if the Germans can have an American prisoner, why can't the American prisoners have a German prisoner. If we're wrong, what are they going to do? Lock us up?

Hogan talking to Newkirk after the general has refused to tell him the location of his troops:


 * Hogan: It isn't going to be easy. He won't talk to save his life... or will he? I think the General's going to be ill - deathly ill. Newkirk, we have a job for the Mighty Hogan Art Players.

As Hogan speaks with General Schmidt in Barracks 2, as he tries to convince him to contact his second-in-command so that he can find the location of his unit:


 * Schmidt: Ja, what is it you want?
 * Hogan: Cleveland.
 * Schmidt: Cleveland?
 * Hogan: I want to be Bürgermeister. Oh, you don't have to worry about me, sir. I'll be loyal. One set of books.

LeBeau, as he acts to help convince the general about the deadliness of the "prison plague":


 * Hogan (after LeBeau's outburst): LeBeau is a bit emotional.