Whenever I got to stay home sick from school as a kid, one of my favorite things to do was to watch re-runs of Hogan’s Heroes, which ended up sparking my interest in World War 2 and history in general. Since then, I’ve learned a lot about what life was really like in POW camps and what parts of the show were fictionalized for comedic effect.
The thing I’ve always wondered though was how much of an impact a Hogan’s Heroes-style group could have had, operating in the middle of Germany from around 1942-1945.
While Indy has talked about how important bridges were to the advancing Allies, like the Remagen Bridge or the bridge at Arnhem, how much would it hinder the Germans to blow up one bridge near Hammelburg in 1943? Blowing up multiple bridges over the course of the war?
Would destroying a cargo train heading for the Eastern Front have been a real difference maker?
How valuable would it have been to have a waystation to equip downed airmen to return to Britain?
What could a resistance group in Bavaria actually have been expected to accomplish?