Operation: Stalag 13

A/n: I don't own or claim to own any of the Hogan's Heroes Characters

Chapter 1:

Colonel Robert Hogan, commander of the 504th Bomb Group, was the last to climb out of his B-17. He joined his men as they started heading inside. They were already cheering and celebrating; it had been another successful raid over Dusseldorf in Germany.

"Alright fellas, let's just keep the celebrating to a minimum for now huh?" Hogan tried to look serious as he said it, but couldn't quite manage and they all noticed.

"Oh Come on sir" Lt. James Matthews said. "That was one of the best raids we've had. We took out that munitions factory with the first few bombs we dropped. You can't blame us for wanting to celebrate a bit." Matthews had been flying with Hogan since the beginning. He knew how far he could get without Hogan pulling rank.

"I know, and believe me, there will be plenty of time for all that later." Hogan said. "Let's just try not to get ourselves into trouble like last time."

"Colonel Hogan sir" Lt. Peter Sampson came up to him and saluted.

"At ease. What can I do for you Peter" Hogan asked returning the salute.

"General Williams wanted me to give you this sir." He handed folded a note to Hogan. "And also General Davis wants you and your team in the briefing room in an hour."

"Thanks Lt. We'll be there." Hogan smiled as Sampson walked off heading towards the building he came out of.


General Williams sat at his desk re-reading the latest report from Colonel Hogan. He had been arguing with himself for the past half an hour. He didn't want to put his friend in a position like this but he had to. // He's going to hate me for asking him to do this but he's the best one for the job. // There was a knock on the door, which brought him out of his thoughts.

"Come in" he called looking up and over towards the door. Colonel Hogan walked in and closed the door behind him.

"You wanted to see me sir?" Hogan asked.

"Take a seat Robert" he motioned to a seat in front of the desk. Hogan smiled and sat down.

"Congratulations on the raid; I heard it was a complete success."

"Thanks, but the credit really goes to the rest of my men; I just flew one of the planes" Hogan said. He never liked taking all the credit for himself, especially when his entire team had been involved.

Williams didn't say anything for a long moment and kept trying to avoid looking him in the eye. Hogan was suspicious and starting to get a little nervous; Williams never tried to avoid looking at him directly unless there was something he didn't want to tell say. // Something's not right here. // "Sir? What's going on? Is something wrong? Your note said something about a possible assignment."

"Your one of the best pilots we have" he started; not quite sure how to put it. "I know that you've been assigned to train upcoming pilots, but something else has come up. Normally I wouldn't even consider this as a possibility but, everyone around here knows that you've been known to pull off the impossible against all odds."

"Well most of the time, it was pure luck, especially when something went wrong." He said slowly, not sure what he was being asked to do.

"Well luck or not, you managed it." Williams continued after a moment. "Before I ask you to do this I want you to know that it's strictly volunteer only. I will not order you to do this because of how and where you would have to be." Hogan nodded.

"We need someone to operate a sabotage and intelligence unit in Germany. With the possibility of helping escaped prisoners get back home." He said, trying to get the first part over with quickly "It would also have to be done from the most unlikely place. Stalag 13."

"Good one sir" Hogan laughed. He was hoping it was a joke. "You almost had me for a second there."

"I'm not kidding Rob. This could shorten the war by months. You are the best possible person we have for this, especially since it seems like you can pull off anything no matter how crazy it sounds or appears to be."

"Are You Crazy!?" Hogan almost yelled. "You want me to run an underground operation from a POW camp in the middle of Germany'? How the hell do you want me to pull that off?"

"Your lucky your talking to me Colonel and not a different General" Williams said. He was only slightly annoyed at being yelled at but he had completely expected it.

"Sorry sir" Hogan backed down almost instantly. Although they were old friends, Williams still a general. "It's just that it would be impossible, even for me"

"Don't apologize." Williams said pouring them both a drink. "There's no need. I knew you would react that way. Why do you think I'm the one who told you?" Hogan took the drink he was offered and sat down again. Even though Hogan knew that any number of things could go wrong with an assignment like this one, he was already running through different the possibilities. He knew it would be virtually impossible for him to do, but that had never stopped him before.

// Besides // Hogan thought. // I'm only training new the pilots for the next 8 months unless something urgent comes up. At least this way I might be able to help win the war in a different way. //

"We already have three contacts inside the camp. Two are POW's; one of them is an American, Sgt. James Kinchloe. I'm not sure who the other two contacts are because I'm not the one who assigned them. Kinchloe can introduce you to them when you get there."

"Okay, I'll do it. Besides I've never said no to an assignment yet." Hogan smiled and Williams started to explain how he was going to get there.


Three weeks after their conversation Hogan and General Williams sat in the briefing room with Lt. James Matthews, his co-pilot, Sgt. Adam Johnson, his navigator, and last but not least, his radio man Sgt. David Thompson. They had just gone through every detail of what was going to happen with this assignment and was giving his men one last chance to back out of this now, before it was too late.

"Okay" Hogan began. "This is one mission that is strictly volunteer only, if any of you want to back out of this, now is the time to do it. No-one will think any differently of you, especially me."

"When you go on a mission we're always there with you." Johnson spoke up. "Why should now be any different? And besides… who's gonna keep our famous 'papa bear' out of trouble until you get there if we don't go?" He added. He had nicknamed Hogan 'Papa bear' after their tenth mission together and somehow it had always stuck with him.

"Yeah well, this isn't any normal raid on a bridge or factory in Germany. You guys might not be flying away from this one." Hogan said, smiling slightly at the use of his nickname.

"Sir, we aren't letting you go by yourself. There's no way." Matthews added after a moment. "Not only that but you need us to navigate and fly the plane back here once you jump out."

"Alright then" Williams said before Hogan could argue any further. Truth be told, he was glad that Hogan wasn't going out on this one completely alone. "I guess that's everything covered. You leave in one hour; good luck and be careful."


"What's our position Johnson" Hogan's voice came over the headset they were wearing.

"We will be over Hamburg in ten minutes sir" Came the reply from somewhere behind the pilot's seat.

"Right. Be prepared for anything, as soon as they spot this plane I have a feeling they're not going to waste any time in firing at us. If we get hit, I want everyone out of the plane as quickly as possible. I'll try to get it as far away from you as I can before I jump. Once you land I want you both to take cover until dark then head north. There will be a sub in the area to take you back home if you need it. Is that clear?" There was a slight pause before they all confirmed that they understood.

"When this is all over with I'll buy everyone here a drink." Hogan said trying to lighten the mood.

"We'll hold you to that Papa Bear" Came Johnson's voice over the radio.

The next thing they knew the plane shook and there was a loud explosion from the side of the plane. They had been hit and one of the engines had been damaged. Hogan was struggling to keep control of the plane wile the others grabbed the gun turrets in the plane and fired at the fighter planes that had seemed to come from no-where.

"Forget about them!!" Hogan called over his headset. "Just get out and take cover when you land!!"

"What about you? You can't hold them off for long, there's too many of them"

"Don't worry about me, just go. That's an order!" he added when they all hesitated.

Once the three of them had jumped, Hogan flew the plane as far away from them as he could mange, then went to the back of the plane, and jumped out.


Hogan's parachute opened and he took one last looked over his shoulder at his plane as he landed. Unfortunately, his chute got caught in a tree. He grabbed the knife that he had kept down the side of his boot, just incase this happened. He cut through the ropes and landed rather painfully at the bottom of the tree.

"Great, just great" He muttered to himself as he tried but failed to get the parachute out of the tree. // Oh well, at least they'll be able to find me easily enough. // He thought bitterly. He was still angry with himself for accepting this assignment. He started to head away from the area he landed in but immediately stopped in his tracks when he saw he was surrounded by a German patrol.