This was Cynthia Lynn's final appearance, after 22 episodes, as Col. Klink's (Werner Klemperer) secretary 'Helga'. However, she would make two more appearances in the show's latter seasons as uncredited characters. Sigrid Valdis, as 'Hilda', would take over the secretarial role from season two onwards.
When Hogan, studying the microfilm containing details about a fake Allied bombing raid, identifies the city of "Eindhoven" as the "target," Kinch pulls down a hidden map to locate it. His identification is accurate: Eindhoven is in the Netherlands (which Nazi Germany occupied in 1940), about 120 km/72 mi from Dusseldorf, Germany, and the map shown in shot depicts the Netherlands and northwestern Germany.
However, Hogan, demonstrating on the map, claims that "Schweinfurt" is near Eindhoven. Schweinfurt, Germany, is about 500 km/300 mi from Eindhoven. Why Hogan makes this inaccurate claim may be inferred by his noting that Schweinfurt is "a really big target." Indeed, in August 1943, the Allies launched an ambitious daylight bombing raid against Schweinfurt and nearby Regensburg that was deemed a success but that sustained heavy losses, demonstrating the need for long-range fighter escorts. (Season six's Easy Come, Easy Go (1971) involves an attempt to steal one of those new fighter escorts, the P-51 Mustang.)
Readers who may consider this a "goof" must recall that when these episodes were originally aired, viewers watched them in real time on smaller, lower-resolution televisions with no ability to pause, rewind, or record them for closer study. Readers must also note that Hogan's Heroes (1965) is a situation comedy, not a documentary series.
However, Hogan, demonstrating on the map, claims that "Schweinfurt" is near Eindhoven. Schweinfurt, Germany, is about 500 km/300 mi from Eindhoven. Why Hogan makes this inaccurate claim may be inferred by his noting that Schweinfurt is "a really big target." Indeed, in August 1943, the Allies launched an ambitious daylight bombing raid against Schweinfurt and nearby Regensburg that was deemed a success but that sustained heavy losses, demonstrating the need for long-range fighter escorts. (Season six's Easy Come, Easy Go (1971) involves an attempt to steal one of those new fighter escorts, the P-51 Mustang.)
Readers who may consider this a "goof" must recall that when these episodes were originally aired, viewers watched them in real time on smaller, lower-resolution televisions with no ability to pause, rewind, or record them for closer study. Readers must also note that Hogan's Heroes (1965) is a situation comedy, not a documentary series.
At "mail call," Hogan is giving out the mail. When he calls out (what sounds like) Abram's name, two prisoners grab at the letter and both hold on to it.
The "Dear John letter" expression is usually believed to have been created by American servicemen during WWII, and it contained the news that their wives or girlfriends decided to begin a relationship with a another man rather than to wait for them to return. Since "John" was the most popular and common baby name for boys in America every single year from 1880 through 1923, it was assumed as a reasonable 'placeholder' name when denoting those of age for military service.
Several prisoner names are mentioned during mail call, that do not otherwise appear in the series, including Adams, Abrams, Abraham, Addison, Bartoli, Beauchamp, Barker, Belknap, and Bartoli.