 Under the command of Alfred Schulze @-@ Hinrichs , the ship was allocated to Group 1 for the Norwegian portion of Operation Weserübung . The group 's task was to transport the 139th Mountain Infantry Regiment ( 139 . Gebirgsjäger Regiment ) and the headquarters of the 3rd Mountain Division ( 3 . Gebirgs @-@ Division ) to seize Narvik . The ships began loading troops on 6 April and sailed the next day . Erich Koellner suffered storm damage en route and lost two men swept overboard . When the destroyers arrived at the Ofotfjord , west of Narvik , on the early morning of 9 April , the three ships of the 4th Flotilla , under the command of Commander Erich Bey , were ordered to land their troops in the Herjangsfjord ( a northern branch of the Ofotfjord ) in order to capture a Norwegian Army armory at Elvegårdsmoen . The troops encountered little resistance , but off @-@ loading them was slow because there was only a single wooden pier available . Later in the day , Koellner moved to Narvik harbor , but was not able to refuel before she was ordered to return to the Herjangsfjord well before dawn together with her sisters Wolfgang Zenker and Erich Giese . 
