Hogan Springs


Series:	Hogan's Heroes
Episode:	Hogan Springs
Original Airdate:	October 28, 1966
Production Number:	5784-41
Written by:	Laurence Marks
Directed by:	Gene Reynolds
Produced by:	Edward H. Feldman & William A. Calihan

Regular[]

Hogan uses a broken water main under the camp to aid the escape of captured resistance fighters by creating a health spa.

This is both the forty-first produced episode of the series and the thirty-ninth episode to be shown on television, and is the seventh episode of the Second Season.
In the episode, Klink labels the new bath house "Strength Through Water," mentioning a change he made from "Strength Through Joy." "Strength Through Joy" (translated Kraft durch Freude and abbreviated KdF) was a Third Reich leisure organization which attempted to afford lower-class citizens some recreational rights of the upper class. Continuing on with this parody, the German for this phrase would be Kraft durch Wasser.
American actor John Wayne is mentioned in the episode.
This is the first time that any mention is made of Kinch's plumbing skills.

This episode, which takes place in early 1944, appears to follow immediately after The Battle of Stalag 13. Sparrow and his men, most likely members of the former underground unit at Hammelburg, are fleeing from the Gestapo as the episode opens.

Carter is ordered to mix "ordinary tap water" with "sulphur, rock salt, and potassium". Based on the laboratory setup and materials shown, it would be impossible for Carter to successfully mix the water with potassium, as potassium is violently reactive to water and oxygen; mixing it with water produces caustic potash solution plus a very hot flare of hydrogen gas, which can explode. This would make for an unpleasantly short attempt at chemistry. The writers probably meant one of the innocuous potassiums SALTS like potassium chloride.

Previous episode:
The Rise and Fall of Sergeant Schultz

Next episode:
A Klink, A Bomb and a Short Fuse