The cast and crew of the long-running German crime show "Tatort" film an episode titled "Charlie" at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, on Feb. 28, 2024. The episode aired March 2, 2025. (Christian Carrillo/U.S. Army)
GRAFENWOEHR, Germany — An installment of a popular German television show that was filmed on a U.S. Army training range in Bavaria aired recently, showcasing American soldiers who got in on the act.
Producers of the crime procedural “Tatort,” which means “Crime Scene,” filmed the episode in February 2024 at the 7th Army Training Command’s Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels during exercise Allied Spirit.
Titled “Charlie,” the episode aired March 2 on public broadcaster ARD and featured base leadership and soldiers.
The collaboration marked the first time that the Defense Department had partnered with a foreign production company, said Harold Shorter, a former Army captain and public affairs liaison who helped facilitate the filming.
He said participating in the filming of the show, akin to the U.S. series “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” was the capstone achievement of his career.
The cast and crew of the German television show "Tatort" pose with U.S. soldiers assigned to the 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment after filming the show at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, on Feb. 28, 2024. (Christian Carrillo/U.S. Army)
“The experience was a ton of fun,” recalled Shorter, who has since left the service.
“Tatort” has been on German television since 1970 and occupies the prime-time Sunday slot of 8:15 p.m., according to the ARD website. It also airs in Austria and Switzerland.
“Charlie” was watched by 8.13 million viewers, the OberpfalzECHO newspaper reported March 3.
The episode begins with the discovery of a woman’s body in an abandoned military vehicle during the NATO exercise, according to the online database IMDb. Detectives Franz Leitmayr and Ivo Batic, played by actors Udo Wachtveitl and Miroslav Nemec, are called to investigate.
Over the course of the 90-minute show, the detectives team up with military police to find out who killed the civilian battlefield actor.
Col. Kevin Poole, U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria commander at the time, had a speaking role in the production, training command spokeswoman Lacey Justinger said.
Soldiers from the training area’s resident opposition force — 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment — appeared as extras.
The project was first proposed to the training command by the Munich-based Lucky Bird Pictures in 2021, Justinger said.
Lucky Bird then submitted a script, which eventually went to the Army’s Office of the Chief of Public Affairs in Los Angeles, the agency that handles film requests for the service.
The production team scouted locations in September 2022 and filmed for a week at the end of February last year.
Sgt. 1st Class John Allenbrand, assigned to the regiment, was offered a small part in the show after providing information to the producers in the unit headquarters.
“The experience of being on a TV show in Germany was humbling,” he said. It “gave us the opportunity to provide legacy to the Warrior Battalion at Hohenfels.”
Stars and Stripes reporter Marcus Kloeckner contributed to this report.
