Tag Archives: M82 scope

Happy 68th anniversary, Regiment van Heutsz

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On this day in 1950, the Netherlands formed a new infantry regiment specifically for overseas service. Taking its moniker from Aceh war hero Joannes Benedictus van Heutsz as the torch bearer for the old traditions of the KNIL– the 65,000-man Dutch Indies colonial army that was disbanded the same year after it left newly-independent Indonesia.

With the UN looking for forces to fight in Korea, the all-volunteer Regiment van Heutsz formed the bulk of the Nederlands Detachement Verenigde Naties (NDVN) and was soon shipped to the ROK. The initial battalion-sized force (636 officers and men) arrived at Pusan on November 23. Attached to the U.S. 38th Infantry Regiment (part of 2ID) they were armed and equipped in U.S. fashion and were engaging the Norks/Chinese by January 1951.

Sergeant Wedei Huizen, of the Netherlands detachment of the UN forces in Korea, in position to return sniper fire. Note the sniper variant M1C rifle complete with the M82 scope and distinctive M2 flash hider Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205190183

By the time the Dutch left Korea in 1954, a total of 5,322 volunteer soldiers from the Netherlands and Suriname rotated through the unit, suffering 768 casualties in total. They fought at Hill 325 and 340, in the Battles of Hoengseong and Wonju, and helped put down the Koje-do Island POW revolt. They were augmented by six Royal Netherlands Navy destroyers who worked the gun line offshore.

Commonly referred to just as the Dutch Battalion, they picked up both a ROK and U.S. Presidential Unit Citation. The Dutch government conferred 156 military merit medals for individual service while each of the battalion’s members received the UN Service Medal, Korean War Service Medal, and the Cross for Justice and Freedom of the Netherlands.

An air assault battalion today, Regiment van Heutsz’s lineage is carried by the 12th battalion of the 11 Luchtmobiele Brigade and has served in the former Yugoslavia and in Afghanistan.

The ‘new’ Inland looks to bring back the ‘old’ T3 .30 Caliber Carbine

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Ohio-based Inland Manufacturing team has reached back into the history books for a rare scoped version of the classic M1 Carbine of World War II.

Founded in 2013, Inland has been making a series of classic reproductions of U.S. martial arms to include a new production model of the M37 Trench shotgun, the GI 1911, and several variants of the “warbaby” .30 caliber M1 Carbine. The new company named themselves after the Inland Manufacturing Division of General Motors, originally established in 1922 and went extinct in 1989, that made a ton of M1 Carbines during the war.

Their latest model, dubbed the T30, is an ode to the late-war production T3 Carbine. That gun, which later evolved into the very neat M3 Carbine (not to be confused with the .45ACP M3 Grease Gun), was an attempt to make a specialized little popgun which came with a scope base instead of conventional sights and included a cone shaped flash hider.

A rare WWII-era Inland Division of GM made T3 Carbine. Something like 99 percent of these guns were scrapped in the 1950s.

A rare WWII-era Inland Division of GM made T3 Carbine. Something like 99 percent of these guns were scrapped in the 1950s.

Winchester and Inland made about 1,970 of these guns in late 1944 and early 1945 and they were equipped with optics to include a very neat early infrared sniperscope that was used in the Okinawa campaign as well as to a degree in Korea.

Australian soldier takes aim with his M3 Carbine during the Korean war. Note the extensive infrared spotting system

Australian soldier takes aim with his M3 Carbine during the Korean war. Note the extensive infrared spotting system powered by the handy dandy backpack

While most T3s/M3s were scrapped in the 1950s, and a few (usually with the infrared scope) are in museums and pop up from time to time at auction, they are among the most collectable of the more than six million .30 caliber carbines made during the war.

Inland’s repro, the T30, comes complete with a period-correct Redfield-style scope base welded to the receiver like the T3/M3– which will take 1-inch and 30mm Redfield rings– as well as the clamp-on conical flash hider. This is also an improvement over the old T3, as that wartime production gun had the base pinned/brazed on to the receiver– and the option for a new production Hilux M82 sniper scope.

The New Inland T30

The New Inland T30

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