More Hogan's Heroes/WW II Historical News:

 Hogan's Heroes / WWI Historcial News

World War II: (March 27, 1945), Patton's task force arrived at the vicinity of the real Stalag 13 near Hammelburg and attacked the officers' compound. Their attempt to free Patton's son-in-law left the man wounded and immobile. The task force liberated some POWs but retreated in failure with many members captured or killed. But the success of Allied forces in general and Patton's in particular continued to worry Goebbels: ''The British and especially the Americans are at present pursuing really wide-ranging plans on the Western Front; this applies particularly to General Patton who has been conspicuous for his series of audacious advances ever since the start of the offensive and who is now well under way. He is letting it be known that practically nowhere is he meeting any firm resistance and consequently can drive around in our country unimpeded. This is in fact the case.''

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World War II: (March 26, 1945), Joseph Goebbels wrote: ''The critical development in the West is undoubtedly that in the Main area and at Aschaffenburg. Here the Americans have succeeded in making a surprise advance deep into our hinterland, producing an extraordinarily precarious situation for us. We are of course trying to get the better of this situation with all the resources available to us. . . But we are poor folk and have only limited resources and potentialities with which to oppose the enemy.'' The fuel situation, already critical, was continuing to deteriorate. ''Since we are getting for all intents and purposes no more coal from the Saar or the Ruhr, our coal resources have become extraordinarily restricted. Not much can be done with emergency measures.'' On the evening of the 26th, General Patton sent a task force behind enemy lines with the goal of rescuing Patton's son-in-law, a POW.

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World War II: (March 25, 1945), Joseph Goebbels commented about the air war: ''It is cheering that we are now recording 40-50 enemy aircraft shot down daily. This is due to our new fighters; but they are only in action in such small numbers that they cannot really register any decisive success.'' Goebbels noted the effects of Allied air action on transport hubs. ''Rail traffic is totally at a standstill. There are districts in which not a single train runs; where trains do run they can do so only at night and at a snail's pace.''

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World War II: (March 22, 1945), forces of Patton's Third Army crossed the Rhine River at Oppenheim. They subdued weak German opposition and advanced rapidly. On March 23, Montgomery sent many thousands of troops across the Rhine near Wesel. They also met little German resistance, but the cautious Montgomery declined to allow a fast advance. Nevertheless, the Nazi leaders knew that the Western Front situation, hitherto full of serious problems, had become much worse. On March 24 Joseph Goebbels wrote, ''The situation in the West has entered an extraordinarily critical, ostensibly almost deadly phase. . . the enemy now has three extraordinarily dangerous bridgeheads east of the Rhine and. . . he will undoubtedly do his utmost to surround the Ruhr. . .'' Air raids on Berlin targeted industrial areas. Goebbels: We now hardly know where our heavy weapons can be produced.

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World War II: (March 18, 1945), Joseph Goebbels noted that the collapse of the Remagen bridge (on the 17th, ten days after American soldiers captured it) came too late to stop the enemy. ''It would be splendid if we could succeed in eliminating the Linz bridgehead. At present, however, the Americans are in such strength there that it is they not us who are making gains of ground.'' The Saar was in a critical state. ''Here the Americans are trying to take us in rear and roll up the Siegfried Line from behind, exactly as we did to the Maginot Line during the offensive in the West in 1940. It is clear that we must put in all our forces to stop this attempt, but it is very questionable whether we can succeed. . . In addition to all this at midday there was a heavy air raid on the capital producing all sorts of trouble. The Americans attacked with 1300 bombers escorted by 700 fighters and we had only 28 new Me262s with which to oppose them and they can stay in the air for only half to three-quarters of an hour. . . Schaub is sent over by the Fuhrer to get the news. For his benefit I add a generous helping of criticism of the Luftwaffe and Goring.''

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World War II: (March 14, 1945), Joseph Goebbels observed: ''Somewhat depressing news from Hungary. Our offensive there seems not to be going to work. Our divisions have been halted in front of Soviet defensive positions and are now facing serious counterattacks. One would think one was dealing with the devil. None of our military operations, however well prepared, have been successful recently.''

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World War II: (March 13, 1945), Joseph Goebbels expressed his urge for the international extermination of Jews. . . . ''In Germany, thank God, we have already done a fairly complete job. I trust that the world will take its cue from this.'' Goebbels also railed against the Luftwaffe again:. . . ''it is in no way capable of doing its job. When I call to mind that the amount of petrol available to the Luftwaffe has fallen from 193,000 tons to 8000, then I realize what can be expected of the Luftwaffe and what cannot. What use is all this mass output of new fighters when we have neither the petrol nor the crews to put them into action?''

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World War II: (March 10, 1945), Joseph Goebbels commented on the Luftwaffe as follows: ''... the proposal has been made that the entire Luftwaffe should be abolished. . . This would be the most sensible solution since in its present state the Luftwaffe is not worth a row of beans. It consists merely of one enormous corruption factory. The Remagen bridgehead induced this prophetic dictation: . . . if the Americans continue to hold out on the right bank of the Rhine, they have a base for a further advance and from the small beginning of a bridgehead such as we now see, a running sore will develop. . . the poison from which will soon spread to the Reich's vitals.''

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World War II: (March 9, 1945) the OKW presented its first written response to the crossing of the Rhine at Remagen: ''Some enemy armour from the Ahrweiler area reached the east bank of the Rhine across the Remagen bridge. The enemy force consisted of an armoured detachment and three infantry battalions. The enemy advance was sealed off and held at Linz. Counter-measures were initiated at once. The bridge was attacked by dive-bombers during the night and damaged; it is possible, however, that it can still be used. Joseph Goebbels was worried to fury: It is quite devastating that the Americans should have succeeded in capturing the Rhine bridge at Remagen intact and forming a bridgehead on the right bank of the Rhine. . . On the enemy side of course people are overjoyed at the news. They act as if they already held the whole right bank of the Rhine. In fact it is a raving scandal that the Remagen bridge was not blown in good time. The Americans were able to capture it without a fight.''

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World War II: (March 7, 1945), units of the American 1st Army captured the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen, providing an opportunity to cross the Rhine and establish a bridgehead on the eastern side.

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Hogan's Heroes: (March 6, 1970), The Sergeant's Analyst, the twenty-third episode of the fifth season of Hogan's Heroes, first appeared on CBS.

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World War II: (March 6, 1945), American troops capture Cologne.

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World War II: (March 5, 1945), Brazilian troops captures Vergato in Italy.

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World War II: (March 5, 1944), the Soviets begin their Uman–Botoșani Offensive.

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Hogan's Heroes: (March 4, 1966), How to Cook a German Goose by Radar, the twenty-fourth Hogan's Heroes episode, first appeared on CBS.

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World War II: (March 4, 1944), the USAAF begin a daylight bombing campaign against Berlin; the second Narva Offensive ends as a German defensive victory.

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World War II: (March 4, 1941), British Commandos conduct Operation Claymore, their successful raid of the Lofoten Islands.

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Hogan's Heroes: (March 3, 1968), How to Escape from a Prison Camp Without Even Trying, the twenty-fifth episode of the third season of Hogan's Heroes, first appears on CBS.

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Hogan's Heroes: (March 3, 1967), Reverend Kommandant Klink, the twenty-fifth episode of the second season of Hogan's Heroes, first appears on CBS.

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World War II: (March 3, 1945), Joseph Goebbels commented about the Russian Front as follows: ''It is. . . quite easy for the Soviets to concentrate somewhere and then break through; we have to shuffle our units to the hot spots like a fire brigade in order to plug the holes as best we can, suffering severely in the process;'' Operation Blockbuster ends as a Canadian victory.

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Hogan's Heroes: (March 1, 1969), The Witness, the twenty-third episode of the fourth season of Hogan's Heroes, first appears on CBS.

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Hogan's Heroes: (March 1, 1926}, Robert Clary, who played Corporal Louis LeBeau during all six seasons of Hogan's Heroes, was born.

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World War II: (March 1, 1944), the Leningrad–Novgorod and the Kingisepp–Gdov offensives end as Soviet victories; the Soviets begin their second Narva Offensive.

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Hogan's Heroes: (February 28, 1971), Kommandant Gertrude, the twenty-first episode of the sixth and final season of Hogan's Heroes, first appears on CBS.

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World War II: (February 28, 1943), Operation Gunnerside is conducted, where six Norwegian commandos successfully attack the heavy water plant at Vemork, Norway.

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