Disclaimer: I don't own Hogan's Heroes or any of the characters; I merely borrow them and play with them for a while.
General Albert Burkhalter doesn't consider himself a man who will suffer fools lightly. And that is why being in Klink's simpering, bumbling presence fills him with disgust.
This time is no different. Klink is standing in front of him making up pathetic excuses for his latest failure, and Burkhalter can feel a headache coming on. Most of all he would like to order the colonel onto the next train to Stalingrad, but as Klink so often reminds him, he does have a perfect record, something that no other POW camp Kommandant can pride himself on. This reflects positively on Burkhalter as well, so he lets Klink remain in his position, despite his obvious shortcomings.
Still, Klink is an embarrassing disgrace to the Wehrmacht. If it weren't for his aristocratic background, the man would barely even have been worthy of serving at the Eastern front.
But with the Wehrmacht being what it is, placing value on social standing and family, Klink is now a colonel. Burkhalter considers it nothing short of an insult to be forced to call a man like that his fellow officer.
No, being an officer isn't what it used to be.
And neither is being a sergeant, he thinks with another wave of disgust as Schultz suddenly barges through the door, short of breath and his huge stomach heaving after the short sprint he has made to the Kommandant's office.
Burkhalter knows that they are scraping the bottom of the barrel these days, but it's still unsettling seeing what the Wehrmacht has become, accepting men like this into their ranks. The Wehrmacht should be their country's finest, a manifestation of all the military values that the armed forces have traditionally adhered to. It shouldn't consist of men like Schultz who barely knows which end of his rifle goes boom and can't do even one push-up without falling flat on his face.
The fat sergeant swallows a few times, and then he stammers forth an unconvincing explanation as to why he wasn't on his post like he should have been when the Gestapo car visiting the camp suddenly exploded. Klink berates him, calling him a fool as he shakes his riding crop around in a ridiculous display of authority.
Clowns. Both of them.
He barely listens as the two keeps yammering back and forth. Instead, he mournfully wishes he were back serving on the front again, as he was before he got wounded and taken out of active duty. The front. The place of a real officer. Like in the Great War, when men were still men and officers were still officers. Not like today, when it seems like anyone can lay claim to being either.
It isn't until Major Hochstetter's voice pierces through his wistful memories of better days long gone that his mind, reluctantly, returns to the present.
The ferocious little man is angry, throwing accusations around, mainly in Hogan's direction. Which is, of course, ridiculous, considering that the man is a prisoner. The Gestapo major does not think so, however, and starts to berate Klink for being blind to what goes on in his camp. Spittle is flying from his mouth as he rages on and on.
Burkhalter can't stand Major Hochstetter. The man has no self-control, no dignity in the way he carries himself. He reminds him of a little yapping lapdog who thinks that he can scare the bigger dogs away if he simply barks loud enough. A rabies-infested, mad dog. Just another man who has no concept of military values whatsoever.
Of course, Major Hochstetter isn't actually military, even if it sometimes seems like he wants to purport himself that way. But in the end he is nothing but a Gestapo official, a common thug. They all are, the Gestapo. It's disgusting and disgraceful how such men can control so much of present-day Germany.
They're nothing like the Wehrmacht, even in its present decadent shape.
Perhaps he shouldn't be surprised that the Gestapo has encroached so far on Wehrmacht's rightful territory. Not with the way that the German officers of today have grown weak and indecisive. These days, none of the traditional military values – bravery, valour, sacrifice – mean what they used to, which is something he personally can't understand. If such values no longer have any meaning, then what point is there to being an officer? What else separates them from the common rabble? But he sees the decay every time he is around High Command, in how the officers will rather vie for position among themselves, play political games to further their own agendas, and ingratiate themselves with Hitler and his closest adjutants.
These unworthy displays disgust him.
He can't fathom why Hitler surrounds himself with men like this. Then again, he suspects that even Hitler doesn't quite understand what it means to be an officer, having come out of the Great War as only a corporal. Not that Burkhalter would ever breathe a word of these thoughts to a living soul, of course, not even to his own wife. One never knows who might be listening in.
Still, he can't deny that wherever he turns there is this foul-smelling rot, in the military and in the officers alike.
His gaze turns to the American colonel standing in front of Klink's desk, clutching his cap in his hands. The man is speaking now, trying to pacify both Klink and Major Hochstetter.
Burkhalter watches Hogan intently. He has seen this game before, but it never ceases to fascinate him. The American acts cowed and demure before Klink as he apologizes for his men's inappropriate behaviour, easily defusing the Kommandant's ire. As he turns to Hochstetter, his demeanor switches into innocent ignorance as he deflects the Major's accusations with a calm, rational explanation that makes Hochstetter look like a fool for barging into the camp accusing the prisoners of sabotage.
Klink and Hochstetter soon seem to have had enough with Hogan and instead continue to bicker between themselves like little children. And it is in that moment, when the imminent danger has successfully been derailed, that Hogan's gaze sweeps towards Burkhalter and their eyes meet for the briefest of moments.
There is none of the previous humility or ignorance in those eyes now, but instead a cold, calculating stare as the true man behind the charade briefly resurfaces. Burkhalter knows that Hogan is measuring him, judging him for future encounters and he feels a small flutter of excitement at that. The man is standing among his captors, and yet there is none of that weakness, that despicable softness, that he sees in his fellow German officers. No, Hogan is unafraid and defiant, his spirit unbreakable.
It is at times like this when Burkhalter wishes that Hogan was on their side. Or that the American colonel was not a prisoner and that he himself never sustained the battle wounds that removed him from active duty, because then there would have been a chance, no matter how infinitesimal, that the two of them would one day get to meet and match their skills in battle, man to man.
But as that will never happen, Burkhalter can appreciate the fact that he has finally found someone worthy of his respect. Even if he is an enemy, there is contentment in the knowledge that there is at least one other man in Germany who knows what it truly means to be an officer.