Pistols Taken From the Walther Factory in April 1945

[CountryGent]

Some neat-o history in this one.

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[WoodsPlinker]

Everything gun Jesus does is packed with neato history.

Thanks for sharing.

Did you see project lightning? I hope they do that again for more modern stuff.

 

[CountryGent]

I did indeed watch Project Lightning. Very cool content.

 

[David Wilson]

Thanks for posting this. My dad was part of the "liberation" of the Walther factory at Zella Mehlis (11th Armored); he told similar stories of GI's looting the show room, walking out with engraved and plated pistols by the armful...

 

[nehalemguy]

Cool video. Somewhere I have saved photos from when our GI's were actually in the factory. In one of the photos a GI is shown holding an armload of pistols.

I have a late 1944 PP that is Waffenamt stamped. This one is all matching numbers and is the high polish finish like that found on earlier models. It is telling that production standards dropped so far and so quickly at the Walther plant. This one is undoubtedly a war capture but it no longer had the capture papers with it when I acquired it. I have often wondered if it was taken from the factory or "liberated" from a German soldier. It does still have the correct WW2 magazine and the dark reddish brown grips instead of the more common black grips

-E-.