I ddo not own Hogans Heroes or any of the characters appearing in the original show, however the characters of George Hogan and Thomas Hogan are mine. I´d like to thank everybody for the reviews on my stories so far.


"Colonel, message from London.".

Hogans head turned towards the door and he asked, as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes:

"Kinch, what´s it about?".

Kinch shook his head. "I don´t know sir, it´s coded.".

Hogan frowned.

"What could be so important to have it coded and sent in the middle of the night?".

"I don´t know sir, you´d better decode it fast, they said it was very important information.".

Hogan nodded and Kinch walked outside.

Thirty minutes later, Hogan appeared at the door of his office, waving his men inside.

Kinch could not help but notice the worried look that had appeared in Hogans eyes. His shoulders were slightly bowed, as if a heavy weight was pulling him downwards.

Inside the office, Hogan straightened and put up his command façade.

"At ease, gentlemen.".

There was no need to say this. Newkirk and Carter already stood leaning against the wall and Kinch and LeBeau were leaning against Hogans bed.

A faint smile hushed over Hogans face as he realized the uselessness of this order.

For a moment, he stood silent, trying to arrange his thoughts, but Carter could not stand the suspense and blurted out:

"Colonel, what was that message from London about?".

Hogan sighed and rubbed his temples, to fight the headache that had come up with reading the message.

"This message did not only concern us, but a whole bunch of other people to. There is a German general, who was promoted recently. He goes by the name Jörg Hochman and was promoted because of his skill for detecting Underground agents and blowing Underground networks. Word has reached British intelligence, that he now has discovered the Underground around Hammelburg, including us here. He knows, that there is an operation in this camp, but he does not know the names of any of us. However, with his knowledge of the Underground network he can do lots of damage to the Underground here and he will most likely find out who we are as well. London says, that we need to find out where this general is and then we have to assassinate him immediately.".

"But mon Colonel, how are we supposed to stop that filthy Boche? And above all, ´e will not be working alone, ´e will ´ave informed more people of the presence of the Underground ´ere.".

Hogan nodded. "On this point, we are lucky. The General is a very ambitious man. He will not share vital information with other Generals, to make sure nobody uses his information to get the glory he thinks he deserves.".

"Guv´nor are you sure about this?".

Hogan shook his head. "I´m sure about him being ambitious. The rest I made up, to be honest...".

"Oh great. But sir, ´ow can ya let us stay ´ere, while we might ´ave been discovered already? Why don´t we ´ead out?".

"Because Newkirk, there are more lives at stake than only ours. We need to do what we can and maybe we can stay in the business despite everything. We need to wait and act when the time comes."

Finally, Kinch spoke up.

"Colonel, what are we going to do then?".

"First, we need to get word to the Underground. They must hide as best as they can. Ask them if they can give us any information about this General and what he knows about us, meanwhile, I´ll think of the rest."

I hope. A small voice said in Hogans head. There was more to this General than he had told them, but the rest would come in time.

Kinch watched him carefully as he walked outside.

He knows, he knows that I haven´t told them who that General really is.


Later that evening

Hogan stopped pacing as he heard a soft knock on his door, followed by the entrance of Kinch. Was he overreacting or was Kinchs face a bit paler than usual?

"Colonel, message from the Underground they´ll hide until further notice. And, sir-".

Kinch stopped talking as he noticed the anxiety in Hogans face. "Sir?"

"Yes, Kinch, continue.".

"They have sent information about the General as well. One of the Underground leaders near Munich works for the Abwehr and has sent us the complete file of the General. This includes a course of life, information about his closest relatives and, his real name...".

Hogan nodded. Kinch noticed the sudden pallor in Hogans face and the uncertain tone of his voice when he spoke.

"Kinch, I did not want to tell you guys, until we knew more about the threat he is posing to us and his importance to the Third Reich. It is difficult to let a General vanish, without having a perfect alibi for every person involved. What they´ll ignore when a private disappears, they´ll look at when a General disappears.".

Kinch placed his hand upon Hogans shoulder. "Sir, I understand, but I think the guys should know about this.".

Hogan nodded. "They should, Kinch, because they need to understand why I might have problems completing this mission the way London wants it."

"The assassination bit?".

"Exactly that one.".

Kinch walked outside and called the others.


Five minutes later

"What´s up Colonel? Do you need some explosives? Can we blow up something? The General? His car?".

Newkirk slapped Carters hat down onto his head. "Carter can´t ya see the guv´nor wants to tell us somethin´ important? Just keep your mouth shut, for once.".

Hogan smiled at the bickering to which he had gotten used in all those years, all those years of friendship, but also all those years of responsibility for these men, who were now in danger due to that one General. The General he knew more about...

"I need to tell you something considering the General mentioned in the message from London. But first, I want to play a little word game with you.".

Everybody looked at him questioningly. A word game?

"Okay, does everybody remember the name of the General?".

Carter, enthusiastic about the idea of a game jumped in. "It was Jörg Hochman, wasn´t it?".

Hogan nodded.

"Now, take that name and replace the letters "chm" bij a "g".".

Newkirk was the first to understand.

"Guv´nor do you mean that he?".

Hogan turned towards him. "Yes, Newkirk, his real name is not Jörg Hochman, but George Hogan. He is a brother of mine and a member of the German army.".

Kinch looked questioningly at Hogan. "Sir, you said that he was in the German army, but for that he has to be a German citizen. How-".

He was cut off by Hogan. "My father was an Irish test pilot for new fighter planes in the US. My mother was born in Germany and lived there. In 1893, my father came over to Germany for a short holiday. There, he met my mother and they fell in love. They married in 1897 and my mother moved to Connecticut. In 1899 George was born. I was born in 1907. Just after the First World War, in 1919 my fathers plane crashed during a test flight and he was killed instantly. My mother saw no reason in staying in the US and we moved to Germany. In 1922, my mother married again and I got another brother, Tom. George wanted to go to the army, but could not, because he was still American. After a few years he changed his nationality and joined the Wehrmacht. This was in 1929. In I had completed school and was studying mathematics at university when in 1933, Hitler became Reichskanzler.".

Hogan was interrupted by Carter. "In 1933? But then you were already 26, studying would only take about 5 years, why didn´t you complete your study before then?".

Hogan smiled. "When we came over in 1919 I was twelve years old and should have gone to the seventh class in Germany. The problem was that I could not speak German, so they put me in the sixth class. Still, I could not manage and had to do the year again. When I finally came into the seventh class, I had to redo that one again, because I simply lost the joy in going to school, because certain subjects kept reminding me of my father. Besides flying planes, he was also mad with biology and music and I simply could not bear to go to those classes. Finally I got a grip onto myself and managed to finish school at the age of 21. After that, I worked for two years, because my mother could not find a job and we needed money. Finally, she started to work again and George went to the army, earning money there, so I could go and study."

Carter was still curious. "Jeez, Colonel, but why mathematics, I mean I was always rubbish at mathematics and always thought that it was only for nerds and really weird people.".

Hogan smiled. "Thanks Carter.".

Carter reddened with embarrassment, but before he could start excusing Hogan continued.

"Why mathematics? I guess it was always the problem solving thing in mathematics that attracted me, the way you had to devise strategies to come up with the solution, basically its nothing else than we do here.".

Kinch patted him on the shoulder. "Colonel, the General.".

"Ah, yes, the General. When Hitler became Reichskanzler, my mother and I returned to the US, but my brother George did not want to come with us. He was convinced that what Hitler was doing was the right thing. After a lot of discussion, we left him behind and fled to my step dad´s home country, the US. There, instead of continuing my studies, I joined the AirForce, flew with the RAF planes as a neutral observer and when I became fed up with sitting back and watching, I joined the RAF and began flying bombing raids. With the US entering the war, I joined the Airforce.".

"Jeez, Colonel that´s a complicated story. Irish father, German mother, American step dad. But what does this mean for our mission?".

Newkirk sighed and rolled his eyes. "This means, that we ´ave a massive problem, because London wants the Colonel to assassinate his own brother, while his own brother is hunting down him and everything he´s fighting for.".

Kinch interrupted Newkirk. "What I don´t understand, Colonel, why has your brother changed his name?".

Hogan sighed. "He heard of me and my reputation as a fighter pilot. As I said, he is a follower of the Nazi´s, or at least he was when I last met him. Of course, a Nazi does not want to be associated with someone who is fighting for the enemy. He wanted to hide his family bonds with me.".

Kinch said nothing as he saw the hurt look in Hogans eyes. Then, the pain was replaced by determination.

"Guys, whatever we are going to do during this mission, keep in mind why we are doing this. Dismissed.".

Everybody left, knowing that the Colonel would need time alone.


Two hours later

A soft knock at the door made Hogan jump up from his sitting position at the table. Kinch came in and seated himself on the lower bunk.

"Colonel, I do not want to force you into something, but would you like to talk?".

Hogan shook his head.

I can not show them my weakness. I am their commander. Officers must remain calm, they-

"Colonel, I think you need to talk. It hurt you, did it that George changed his name?".

Hogan remained silent.

It did and more than I would like to admit. Damn George, we grew up together, you are my brother.

Aloud he said. "It is the war.".

Kinch nodded.

The war takes more than lives, it takes families, without killing them.