Hi,
Well, the French didn't, actually. Mauser did, under French control. In Oberndorf am N.
When the French left, they nicked the inventory and blew the place up. That was in 1953. Not that it mattered much. Mauser was up and running a few years later, most buildings were rebuilt in the early 1960s.
The destruction was documented, examples can be seen here:
http://forum.lugerforum.com/showthre...threadid=14294