[mrerick]

i'm not sure of what records you'd be after.

Bring back papers were authorizations for soldiers to return with their captured firearms. Signed by an officer, they were given to the soldier. I doubt records were kept, especially since this would smack of "registration" to US citizens that just fought a war for Europe's freedom from government domination.

They are German made guns, with concealment codes to try and hide manufacturer data from the US and other enemies of Germany. Individual guns were documented when issued in a soldier's personal book, but those are acattered records, not in a central store in Europe.

There is some documentation gathered after the war by the US CIOS teams. Some of that has been published, specifically the interviews with Ott Helmut von Lossnitzer, Mauser's last wartime technical director.

I have an interesting history of Oberndorf written about the transition from war to peace in 1945 by the then mayor of Oberndorf. They actually convinced the French to stop destroying Mauser's factory after the destruction of building "C" where the K98 rifles were made, preserving building "D" where Lugers and P.38s were made and most of the other buildings.

I don't think that DWM records from Berlin have ever been located. They may have been destroyed or lost in the course of losing two wars.

Recent revelations have some from caches of documents, so I don't doubt that there is still material out there to find!