Just one more point regarding the Suhl statement:
"An additional observation must be made. If this was, indeed, a post-war assembly intended for a U.S. GI, it would assuredly not have been proofed in Suhl or Zella-Mehlis. These two cities were well inside the post-war Soviet Zone. Considering the predominately Mauser-sourced parts, and the absence of a proof house identifier, the most likely source of this pistol would be somewhere in the neighborhood of Oberndorf am Neckar."
Immediately post war, the zones were not firmly established, the US did have GI's in Thuringia.
I grew up as an acolyte of a man who was in Army ordnance that spent significant time there investigating/documenting the arms industry.
Use of Erfurt mfg parts screams East Germany to me; as we see so many used in "Vopo" lugers.
So while maybe not likely, it is surely not impossible that Suhl marked pistols were sold or found their way to GIs.
Re-reading the story though, it seems this pistol came from a "German" family source, which is a little tough to understand also. I don't believe many civilians were armed in East Germany.
But then it could been made by whatever arms industry survived in post war EG, and were allowed to be sold there(someone is always allowed to be special/high rank/or just connected) or exported to the rest of the East bloc.
JMHO,
since I always see grey and love exceptions to the "rules".
