How many German troops in ships invading Norway

Before German invasion fleet arrived, Hitler had merchant ships in the harbour at Narvick, with troops hidden in the holds.

Curious about how many ships, how many troops, and how long they were there, before they commenced ops?

Thank you.

No, there were not any troops in German ships at anchor in Narvik harbour on the morning af april 09th 1940. There were however a couple of merchant ships in the harbour carrying supplies for the invasion forces, most notably the pelagic whaler 'Jan Wellem', which carried the fuel for the return journey of the the zerstörer force which carried the invasion troops.

Regards

Hans

There were seven cargoships and three tankers that were supposed to go to different ports in Norway, but the only ship that made it in time, was the tanker 'Jan Wellem' that arrived Narvik on the evening of april 8th. The cargoship 'Rio deJaneiro' was sunk outside Lillesand on april 8th, 150 german soldiers were saved, and about the same number drowned along with a lagre number of horses.

Not as far as I know. There were German-manned tankers (2) and merchant ships (3) sent to Narvik before the invasion under neutral flags, but they had supplies and fuel on board, not troops. The troops (2,000 men of the 139th Mountain Regiment) were carried by 10 destroyers escorted by two heavy cruisers and 4 U-boats.

What about other Norwegian ports? I recall that in the US Army 'Why We Fight' movies (the 'Divide and Conquer' episode if I recall) it was claimed that German merchant ships at anchor in Norwegian ports were filled with troops, tanks, horses, artillery etc.

Perhaps this is the cause of a common misconception that German merchant shipping was used in this manner.

This was discussed with Andrew Clark in the 'Iceland' thread.

The ship, coming from the base which the Soviets had granted the Germans near Murmansk, didn't have enough fuel for all the German destroyers. Refueling was supposed to be done by a tanker, which was intercepted short of its destination.

No.

Hitler sent 'civilian' ships, including tankers, ahead of the actual invasion disguised as neutrals.

The troopships all sailed normally. Troops landed in Narvik were carried by warships.

I posted some data in the 'Iceland' thread, look up my 'Iceland - military issues' post dated 03/21/2004 for some more details.

As far as troops were concerned, they went to action immediately upon reaching Norway, no hidden Spetznatz biding their time.