Shelter-half

Background

Shelter halves are a mainstay of most armies, and are known from the mid 19th century. Often, each soldier carries one shelter-half and half the poles, etc., and they pair off to erect a two-man tent. The size and shape of each half shelter piece may vary from army to army, but are typically rectangular, triangular or lozenge shaped. When time and space allow, some forms of half-shelters can be combined into a larger, more complex tent.

Shelter-halves are usually designed to serve double duty as ponchos against the rain, or for the concealment of snipers. While the fabric is often simple olive drab, several nations use camouflaged fabric. The first printed camouflage for soldiers were the Italian Telo mimetico introduced in 1929 for their half-shelters. The first camouflage uniforms were the Second World War German paratrooper smock, based on their M1931 Splittermuster shelter-halves. The Austro-Hungarian army used the M888 zeltbahn that was first issued in an ochre color, later in grey color that had a bayonet hole allowing the rifle to be used as an ad-hoc tent pole. Russian Army has used plasch-palatkas (literally "cape-tents", designed to be used as both a part of a larger tent cover, or an individual weatherproof cape) since 1894, and the modern version, virtually unchanged since, was introduced in 1936, with the camo version being available since 1942. To add some confusion, the ordinary waterproofed cape with a similar name (plasch-nakidka, "cape-overcoat") was issued at the same time, but these were not intended to combine with each other.

A commercially sold example known as a zelter shelter exists.

Gallery

File:Camp Crane Pup Tents.jpg|Camp Crane pup tents File:Dutch army tent 1955.jpg|Dutch Army pup tent from 1955 File:PolnischesMilitaerzelt Bild10 ZweiZeltbahnenOberseite-I 17Aug2013 (9543480062).jpg|Two Polish Army shelter halves fastened together File:PolnischesMilitaerzelt Bild07 ZeltAufgebautEingang-I 17Aug2013 (9543481422).jpg|Polish Army tent erected File:Pfadfinderstamm Ägypten - Wanderung bei St. Bartholomä, Eiskapelle, 1993.png|German Boy Scouts with M1931 Splittermuster shelter-halves in 1993 File:Плащ-палатка, МО РФ, лежит на земле.JPG|Russian plasch-palatka spread over ground

References

References

1. [http://mobile.outdoorhistory.com/xmlui/bitstream/handle/123456789/5176/FM15-85CareAndUseIndividualClothingEquipment1985.pdf Care And Use of Individual Clothing and Equipment] {{webarchive. link. (2014-10-31 , US Army Field Manual FM15-85, 1985, pp. 3–4ff)
2. "Tent, Shelter Half (Pup Tent)". Olive-Drab.
3. (29 September 2008). "Interesting gear: The Zeltbahn shelter-quarter". Philosophizing with a Hammer.
4. Davis, Brian L.. (1998). "German Army uniforms and insignia : 1933–1945". Brockhampton Press.
5. Ulianov, I.. (1998). "History of Russian Army: Regular Infantry 1885–1918". AST.
6. Col. S.Burdin, "The Rear and Supplies of the [[Red Army]]" #9, 1942, in Russian
7. "Zelter Shelter {{!}} The unique new wearable personal shelter for the outdoors".