Pistols Taken From the Walther Factory in April 1945
Forgotten Weapons
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Courtesy of Legacy Collectibles, we have a variety of pistols to look at today which were taken as souvenirs by American GIs when the Walther factory was captured in April of 1945. Walther was making PP, PPK, and P38 pistols right up until US soldiers walked in, and there were a wide variety of complete guns and miscellaneous parts accessible in the factory. Army forces secured the arms within a week or so of the town of Zella-Mehlis being captured, but by that time plenty of first-wave soldiers had take the opportunity to secure a trophy pistol (or several). These range from complete and proofed guns ready to ship out to major completed sub-assemblies put together (resulting in mismatched and unproofed guns) to complete dog's lunch guns made of completely mismatched, unfinished, and reject parts put together by soldiers themselves or by factory workers in exchange for a few dollars or trade items.
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