'Detmold' was the German operation to take Trondheim on the western coast of Norway as part of 'Weserübung' (9 April 1940).

The task of delivering the ground force was allocated to Kapitän Hellmuth Heye’s Gruppe II with the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, and the destroyers Paul Jacobi, Theodor Riedel, Bruno Heinemann and Friedrich Eckholdt of Fregattenkapitän Rudolf von Pufendorf’s 2^nd Zerstörer-Flottille which carried, together with support elements, all but one company of Oberst Otto Weiss’s 138^th Gebirgsjägerregiment of Generalleutnant Eduard Dietl’s 3^rd Gebirgsdivision, 1/112^th Gebirgsartillerieregiment and 1/38^th Gebirgspionierbataillon.

Some of the men and much of their equipment were carried in the 4,770-ton cargo vessel Levante and supply ships Sao Paulo (4,977 tons and mined off Bergen by a mine laid by the Norwegian minelayer Tyr) and Main (7,624 tons, and captured and sunk by the Norwegian destroyer Draug).