S03154 M31 ITALIAN CAMOUFLAGE QUARTER SHELTER/PONCHO. (Zeltbahn 31) The development of SS camouflage items was initiated by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler in 1935 when he tasked the Reichsführung-SS, (National Leadership of the SS), to begin research of new camouflage patterns and garments for use by the fledgling SS-VT, SS-Verfugüngstruppe, (SS-Special Purpose Troops). In late 1936 and early 1937 the first SS camouflage garments were issued to personnel of the SS-VT Standarte Deutschland for field testing and evaluation. The first items evaluated were the Quarter shelters/ponchos, followed by steel helmet covers, face masks and smocks. As the war continued various other clothing items were produced in the assorted camouflage patterns. Originally the camouflage patterns were all produced in the time consuming manual screen printing until the development of the machine roller printing in 1940. By the end of the war no fewer then ten assorted camouflage patterns had been developed and used by the SS. At the beginning of WWII the Waffen-SS utilized four types of Quarter shelters/ponchos which consisted of the square army field-grey pattern, the triangular army field-grey pattern, the triangular army splinter camouflage pattern and assorted SS triangular camouflage patterns. As the war continued the SS developed and introduced new camouflage patterns and manufacturing techniques. The M31 Zeltbahn was a standard issue item and came accompanied with tenting accessories that consisted of the M1892 tent rope, the three piece M1901 breakdown tent pole, and two M1929 tent pegs enabling the individual to utilize his Quarter shelter with others to form a tent. With the fall of Germany’s Italian allies as a result of Mussolini’s deposition and imprisoned on July 25^TH 1943 and the subsequent Italian unconditional surrender to the allied forces on September 8^TH 1943 the Germans appropriated large stockpiles of Italian clothing and equipment, including camouflage material which they utilized in the construction of assorted garments including the M31 Quarter Shelter/Poncho. This example is a German manufactured shelter utilizing the Italian camouflage material. Of Note: The Italian army had also issued an individual shelter but the Italian version differed from the German version in that it was square and the camouflage pattern was only printed on one side as opposed to the triangular dual sided printed camouflage German versions. Also Of Note: The Germans did utilize the square Italian shelters on a limited basis but preferred to alter them to the German configuration to conform with their other shelters. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Water resistant, cotton duck construction, quarter shelter/poncho with machine roller printed Italian camouflage repeating splotch pattern in assorted shades of green, tan and mid-brown to one side. The camouflage pattern has a faint bleed through to the other side giving it a slightly mottled faded appearance. The triangular shaped shelter, measures roughly, 8', at the base edge and, 7' 2", at the side edges with a central vertical machine stitched seam. The shelter also has a short vertical machine stitched seam to each of the base edge corners indicating it was cut near the end of a bolt of material. The shelter has a roughly, 12 1/2" long, opened slash with dual overlapping flaps, to the center, allowing it to be slipped over the head for wear as a poncho. The shelter retains twenty-eight of its original sixty-two magnetic sheet metal and alloy dish buttons with moderate to heavy surface spotting. The buttons and corresponding button holes allowed the shelter to be worn as a poncho or joined together with other shelters to form assorted sized tents. The shelter has a single large alloy grommet at the peak corner and one small and one large alloy grommets positioned at the base edge corners. The shelter has an additional small alloy grommet at the center of the base. The shelter shows moderate wear with twenty-six small machine stitched and glued patch repairs with many of them utilizing the standard German army splinter pattern camouflage material. The shelter has moderate to heavy color fading to the camouflage pattern giving it a very muted appearance. About half of the buttons appear to have their original stitching. The shelter has no visible manufacturing marks.