A shelter-half is a simple kind of partial tent designed to provide temporary

shelter Shelter is a small building giving temporary protection from bad weather or danger. Shelter may also refer to: Places * Port Shelter, Hong Kong * Shelter Bay (disambiguation), various locations * Shelter Cove (disambiguation), various locatio ...

and concealment when combined with one or more sections. Two sheets of canvas or a similar material (the halves) are fastened together with snaps, straps or buttons to form a larger surface. The shelter-half is then erected using poles, ropes, pegs, and whatever tools are on hand, forming an inverted V structure. Small tents like these are often called pup tents in

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances i ...

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 Lozenge or losange may refer to: * Lozenge (shape), a type of rhombus *Throat lozenge, a tablet intended to be dissolved slowly in the mouth to suppress throat ailments *Lozenge (heraldry), a diamond-shaped object that can be placed on the field of ...

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 A poncho (; qu, punchu; arn, pontro; "blanket", "woolen fabric") is an outer garment designed to keep the body warm. A rain poncho is made from a watertight material designed to keep the body dry from the rain. Ponchos have been used by the ...

against the rain, or for the concealment of

snipers A sniper is a military/paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with high-precision ri ...

. While the fabric is often simple

olive drab Olive is a dark yellowish-green color, like that of unripe or green olives. As a color word in the English language, it appears in late Middle English. Shaded toward gray, it becomes olive drab. Variations Olivine Olivine is the typica ...

, several nations use camouflaged fabric. The first printed camouflage for soldiers were the Italian ''

Telo mimetico M1929 Telo mimetico ( Italian: ''camouflage cloth'') was a military camouflage pattern used by the Italian Army for shelter-halves (''telo tenda'') and later for uniforms for much of the 20th century. Being first issued in 1929 and only fully dis ...

'' introduced in 1929 for their half-shelters. The first camouflage uniforms were the Second World War German paratrooper smock, based on their M1931

Splittermuster Splittertarnmuster, Splittertarn or Splittermuster ( splinter-pattern) is a four-colour military camouflage pattern developed by Germany in the late 1920s, first issued to the Reichswehr in 1931. Development Splittertarnmuster was first printe ...

shelter-halves. 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,Col. S.Burdin, "The Rear and Supplies of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

" #9, 1942, in Russian 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 weren't intended to combine with each other.

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 Boy Scouts may refer to: * Boy Scout, a participant in the Boy Scout Movement. * Scouting, also known as the Boy Scout Movement. * An organisation in the Scouting Movement, although many of these organizations also have female members. There are ...

with M1931

shelter-halves in 1993 File:Плащ-палатка, МО РФ, лежит на земле.JPG, Russian ''plasch-palatka'' spread over ground

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shelter-Half Military personal equipment Camping equipment

Background

Gallery

See also

References