When Corporal LeBeau ( Robert Clary ) tries to distract Sergeant Schultz ( John Banner ) by telling him he is a secret Gestapo plant, Sergeant Schultz points at his own large girth and laughs, saying he is Herman Goering (Nazi political and military leader with very close ties to Hitler) who was also a man of large size.
Corporal LeBeau ( Robert Clary ) is the "winner" of the basket weaving contest, which was being used as a diversion to aid in the escape.
The title What Time Does the Balloon Go Up? (1968) is derived from the expression "the balloon goes/going up," which generally refers to a situation or event that has become serious or dangerous. The expression was coined during the First World War when a balloon was released to signal artillery gunners to open fire, as a balloon was considered more reliable than a courier or a telephone. It was subsequently broadened to refer to the start of a military action or outright war.
This is Lincoln Demyan's only credited guest appearance in the series. He appears one other time, but is not credited.
On the elaborately large map Klink is working on in his office is a prominent salient (or "bulge") in the battle line between German and Soviet forces in the Soviet Union, with the bulge indicating Soviet forces that had advanced into German-held territory ahead of the rest of the Red Army.
This corresponds to the Battle of Kursk, fought between July and August 1943. Nazi Germany had launched Operation Citadel in an attempt to cut behind and isolate the Soviet forces; it was the last German offensive undertaken on the Eastern Front. The Germans ultimately failed in their attempt, which prompted a successful Soviet counteroffensive that reclaimed a substantial expanse of Soviet territory as the Soviet Union irrevocably reversed the tide of conflict on the Eastern Front in its favor. Within the overall Kursk campaign was the Battle of Prokhorovka on July 12, 1943, which is widely regarded as one of the largest tank battles in history.
Nazi Germany attempted a similar operation in December 1944 with the Ardennes Offensive, which tried to cut behind and isolate Western Allied forces that had created a bulge in the battle line in the Ardennes Forest of Belgium and Luxembourg. This is popularly known as the Battle of the Bulge and was the last major German offensive before Nazi Germany surrendered in May 1945, although the Kursk campaign that predates it was also a "battle of the bulge."
This corresponds to the Battle of Kursk, fought between July and August 1943. Nazi Germany had launched Operation Citadel in an attempt to cut behind and isolate the Soviet forces; it was the last German offensive undertaken on the Eastern Front. The Germans ultimately failed in their attempt, which prompted a successful Soviet counteroffensive that reclaimed a substantial expanse of Soviet territory as the Soviet Union irrevocably reversed the tide of conflict on the Eastern Front in its favor. Within the overall Kursk campaign was the Battle of Prokhorovka on July 12, 1943, which is widely regarded as one of the largest tank battles in history.
Nazi Germany attempted a similar operation in December 1944 with the Ardennes Offensive, which tried to cut behind and isolate Western Allied forces that had created a bulge in the battle line in the Ardennes Forest of Belgium and Luxembourg. This is popularly known as the Battle of the Bulge and was the last major German offensive before Nazi Germany surrendered in May 1945, although the Kursk campaign that predates it was also a "battle of the bulge."