Doc

I Look Better in Basic Black - S1-E28

Factual error: The American women the SS brings into camp claim to be entertainers having performed for troops. The series is allegedly set in 1942. Before June 6th, 1944 there were no allied troop concentrations in central Europe, certainly not in Germany, and very certainly none of a size and security rating the USO (or probably rather its predecessor organization, since the USO was founded in 1941 and would not have been fully operational yet) would send a troupe of female entertainers to.

Doc ★

The Top Secret Top Coat - S2-E29

Factual error: In Klink's quarters, there's an (obviously fake) banana in the fruit bowl. Bananas were luxury items in Europe in the 1940s, and certainly so in war-torn Germany. The majority of Germans didn't have access to exotic fruit until the 1960s, and fake fruit of this type wasn't available then either.

Doc ★

Rockets or Romance - S6-E24

Factual error: Frankel suggests manipulating the missile's gyroscope, and Hogan suggests an electromagnet as means to do it, which is later implemented. Gyroscopes however are not affected by any magnetic force, which is what makes a gyroscopic compass superior to a magnetic one in many situations. To enhance that effect, gyroscopes are deliberately built out of materials with as little magnetic susceptibility as possible. A large electromagnet next to the missile could potentially cause all kinds of havoc with all kinds of parts of the missile guidance and control, but the gyroscope itself would not be among them.

Doc ★

Kommandant of the Year - S1-E3

Factual error: A sharp brass cone has been put over the spike on Klink's Pickelhaube, so Hogan can pin the page torn from the Geneva Convention onto it. The real spike of a Pickelhaube has concave slopes, and it isn't pointy enough to pin a piece of paper onto it.

Doc ★

Show generally

Factual error: In several episodes, the fence around the cooler is visible, and hanging on it, a sign saying "Eingang verboten" meaning "no entry." The correct German term would be "Zutritt verboten." In German, "Eingang" is the opening where you enter a building, not the act of entering one.

Doc ★

The Big Broadcast - S6-E12

Factual error: Hogan calls the radio detection truck "radar" when he orders the SS guard to switch it off. From other episodes, we know that Hogan knows what radar is, and back then, the difference between radio homing equipment and radar was even clearer to people than it is today, because radio homing was an established technology, while radar was brand new, and most people were not even aware it existed.

Doc ★

The Big Broadcast - S6-E12

Factual error: Baker picks up a lot of static in his radio, then suddenly signs off and says "Sounds like the radio detection unit picked up our signal." Unlike radar, radio signal homing relies entirely on measuring the signals emitted by the transmitter that is tracked. It works by comparing the strength of the signal arriving at each component of an array of directional antennae. The process is completely passive and does not cause any alteration of the signal measurable at either receiver or transmitter at all, and certainly not any audible interference or humming.

Doc ★

Operation Hannibal - S4-E17

Factual error: The cover of the plan for Unternehmen Hannibal is marked "SEHR GEHEIM." That phrasing does not exist in German. The correct term would be "streng geheim".

Doc ★

Praise the Fuhrer and Pass the Ammunition - S2-E19

Factual error: In the ammunition dump, a sign saying "Warnung Hoche Sprenggefahr" can be seen. That is not correct German. First, and foremost, it must be "hohe" and not "hoche", the latter form does not exist. Secondly, the word "Sprenggefahr", while not formally wrong, was never used in German. Depending on what the meaning of the sign is supposed to be, it must either be "Explosionsgefahr", if the overall danger of an explosion is meant, or if the property of the ammunition of being explosive is meant, it should be "Hochexplosiv." If the general presence of explosive material is being warned of, "Explosivstoffe" or "Hochexplosives Material" would be possible.

Doc ★

Get Fit or Go Fight - S5-E16

Factual error: In the rec hall where Klink is weightlifting, there is an advertisement poster for the Grindelwald region on the wall, which is in Switzerland. The German propaganda poured a lot of money into promoting the Reich's own recreational regions through the "Kraft durch Freude" program. With the war going badly, they especially wouldn't want a "Look how beautiful Switzerland is" poster in plain view of their troops every day.

Doc ★

The Swing Shift - S2-E21

Factual error: In this episode, the HofBrau (which should correctly be written "Hofbräu") is displaying a big red neon sign above its door. From 1939 on, air raid regulations throughout Germany strictly prohibited any unnecessary display of light at night. Any light visible from more than 500m away was considered a breach of air raid regulations.

Doc ★

The Great Brinksmeyer Robbery - S2-E18

Factual error: In the restaurant in Hammelburg, where Schultz discovers Hogan and Newkirk, there's an advertisement for "Brauerei der Jager, Stadt Wien." (Wien = Vienna) Vienna and Hammelburg are more than 500km apart, and if Hammelburg were near Düsseldorf, where the series puts it, it would be more like 700km. That's a bit far away for a brewery to advertise in the pre-globalisation era.

Doc ★

Hogan's Hofbrau - S1-E13

Factual error: Hogan mentions a store that offers "thirty percent off on T-shirts." T-shirts were mostly unknown in Germany during the 3rd Reich, and didn't see widespread use before the 1960s. Before that, the traditional Unterhemd, known in America as tank top or wife beater, was worn almost exclusively.

Doc ★

Monkey Business - S3-E29

Factual error: In this episode, the Royal Navy submarine that acts as a radio relay for Hogan's men is hunted by a destroyer. Like in most such Hollywood scenes, depth charges are seen exploding right next to the submarine, which just shrugs the blasts off. In reality, any depth charge that went off closer than 100 meters was instantly deadly to a submerged sub.

Doc ★

Monkey Business - S3-E29

Factual error: In several episodes, Hogan's men communicate by radio with a British submarine, and the dialog hints that the sub is submerged at the time. During the WWII era, submarines could not communicate by radio without surfacing first. In most episodes one might argue that the sub could be running shallow with a mast up, which would perhaps be within the technical possibilities of the era, but in this episode, the sub is talking to Hogan's men while under attack by a destroyer. This pretty much rules out running at periscope depth, because ramming was regularly-used tactic for killing subs that were in the process of diving or surfacing. To avoid confusion: Nowadays, subs can communicate while running several hundred feet deep by using VLF and ELF. However, these are definitely not capable of transmitting voice, but are text-only.

Doc ★

Guess Who Came to Dinner? - S4-E9

Factual error: Schultz says, Von Grubner has "a castle right next to the Führer's in Berchtesgaden." Hitler's famous real estate in Obersalzberg wasn't a castle but a mountain chalet based on a former farm estate called the "Steinhaus".

Doc ★

The Gypsy - S6-E13

Factual error: In this episode, LeBeau pretends to be a psychic gypsy to fool Klink. Gypsies generally didn't fare too well in the Third Reich. Admitting to being of Gypsy origin would probably have earned LeBeau a ride to the concentration camp.

Doc ★

Duel of Honor - S3-E22

Factual error: Erica says she has a plane to take Klink and her to Argentina. The only transatlantic airplane in Germany at that time was the FW-200 Condor, whose military value would have made it hard to requisition even for an SS Gruppenführer (which would be the real rank a "General" would hold in the SS, different mistake), let alone for his wife. Plus, even the FW-200 could not have made it even to the Brazilian coast without a refueling stop somewhere along the African west coast, which would have been a problem, because Germany had no possessions there. Klink, being a Luftwaffe (Air Force) officer, should have at least been suspicious of that plan, even if he didn't know all the details off the top of his head.

Doc ★

Show generally

Factual error: During the whole show, the iconic Prussian helmet, the Pickelhaube, is present on Klink's desk. If Klink was a flier in WWI as he often hints, that is wrong. The German Reich's air corps didn't wear such helmets but had peaked caps instead.

Doc ★

Show generally

Factual error: Throughout the series, the SS and the Gestapo are often used interchangeably, as if the two organisations were basically the same. The most notorious example is "Major" Hochstetter, who sometimes claims to be Gestapo, sometimes SS, most of the time wearing an SS uniform. This is historically incorrect. The SS was a paramilitary and military organisation, while the Gestapo was a secret police force and since 1939 part of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt. The Gestapo, being essentially a plain clothes police, never had any uniform of their own.

Doc ★