Ger's post immediately preceding mine came up while I was writing mine and he raises a good point - St. Etienne was in the Vichy "Zone Libre" (at least until the Germans invaded in '42). So the part of my supposition that guns such as this one (and the one I saw and wrote about) were looted doesn't hold up, assuming the gun went directly from the factory at St. Etienne to Germany in 1941.
OTOH, the supposition that the gun was looted and sent back to Germany does hold up if one assumes the gun was not in the factory but was instead somewhere in the Occupied Zone. Recall, St. Etienne guns were (and still are) sold throughout France. These guns could have been made any time prior to 1940-41. (The one I described above had chiseled breech balls which were on the way out by the late 30s.) One of the French experts here can correct me, but IIRC during Occupation the Germans banned all private possession of all firearms. These guns could have been looted from the Occupied Zone either from seizures of merchants' stock or from private individuals who complied with the Germans' decree and turned them in. And, making things happen being what it is, I can easily see it taking a year from the 1940 Armistice until the guns got to Germany and were reproofed.
Alternatively, the guns could have been in the St. Etienne factories and gone directly to Germany but without having been "looted". They could have been part of a barter transaction. Or a German manufacturer could have scooped them up for a bargain price after the makers' market in Occupied France evaporated and the maker was stuck with them. Wouldn't have been the first time....
Last edited by Dave in Maine; 01/20/17 11:21 AM.
