If it was recovered in Europe sometime shortly after the war, it is possible that the gun was stolen or captured from a German, then had it's serial number removed in order to hide it's identity. A number of defaced/unnumbered pistols have surfaced in Belgium the last couple of years.
If it was a stolen or captured gun, the fact that the side plate and trigger were missing may be explained by someone removing these in order to keep the gun safe against abuse (at home, for example). Since there were quite heavy punishments on the possession of fire arms after the war in most countries, it is not unlikely that someone got cold feet and eventually decided to ditch the gun.
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