Welrod Silenced pistol .32, mk 2, serial no. 3247, c.1944 (photo)

This pistol was probably used by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War Two. The receiver markings of a square and a star indicate it was made at B.S.A. (Birmingham Small Arms Company) It has a five round magazine. Associated with World War Two (1939-1945). The Welrod pistol derives its name from where some were produced; the Special Operations Executive Research Centre in Welwyn, Hertfordshire. The pistol is unique in that in its final stages, the designers realised that it was senseless to make a pistol then manufacture a silencer for it - rather, they designed a silencer first and then made the pistol mechanisms.