Happy Birthday, Adolf


Series:	Hogan's Heroes
Episode:	Happy Birthday, Adolf
Original Airdate:	January 7, 1966
Production Number:	5784-05
Written by:	Laurence Marks
Directed by:	Robert Butler
Produced by:	Edward H. Feldman & Bernard Fein

Regular[]

The guys plan to destroy a gun emplacement, so that the Allies can attack on Hitler's birthday.

This is the fifth produced episode of the series, but is the seventeenth episode to be shown on television.
This is Howard Caine's first appearance in the series. In this episode, he guest stars as Wehrmacht Major Keitel.

This episode appears to take place in April of 1944, in the days leading up to Hitler's birthday (April 20). It was around this time, in real life, that the Allies began a series of systematic bombing raids against the Atlantic Wall in preparation for the planned landings in Normandy later that year.
This appears to happen not long after Will the Real Adolf Please Stand Up? given the context and implications.

This episode is one of a very few times that Colonel Klink is actually able to exercise his rank's authority over another officer - in nearly every other interaction, he is either hamstrung by the presence of a military superior (such as General Burkhalter), browbeaten by a political superior (such as a Gestapo Officer), or is groveling in an attempt to obtain favour from an officer with connections.

At the celebration, the banner above has "Adolph" misspelled.

Previous episode:
Anchors Aweigh, Men of Stalag 13

Next episode:
The Gold Rush