Like most Great Power Armies, the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) utilized a tornister pack for individual sustainment and for porting additional equipment for a soldier to be self sufficient on a campaign for approximately a week at a time without resupply from regimental and divisional trains. However, the pack is quite uncomfortable and severely limits mobility once in combat due to size and weight. The IJA still utilized the 19th century practice of ditching backpacks prior to combat for frontline units which would be brought up after the breakthrough by the regiment supply unit.
For quite obvious reasons, this often left the average infantryman underequipped should the operation last more than a day or two as all rations and supplemental items had to fit inside the haversack. The Japanese Army reverted to an old design, the tube pack, for this purpose which allowed for a lightweight bag to carry rations, additional clothing items, and bare necessities to survive offensive actions. The tube pack was incredibly popular during the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War. Tube packs could massively cut spending over the complicated horse-hair packs and fared better in adverse conditions. However, replacing traditional packs with the tubepack was never adopted which meant issuing additional equipment to an already overburdened infantryman and the pack itself is rather inflexible in terms of total volume. The lack of volume also meant much of the sustainment gear could not be carried on the person.
As such, this situation led to using the standard issue shelter half as a makeshift pack. While never officially “adopted” or regulated, this practice was commonly seen in the Second Sino-Japanese and Greater East Asia Wars. The shelter half had the benefit of being an already issued piece of equipment, could be rolled to a larger total volume and still allowed the soldier to have portable shelter. The volume was large enough to fit blankets, overcoats, or additional uniforms making it an ideal inbetween for soldiers on medium length operations away from their depots or supply lines. This guide outlines the basics of how to assemble this pack.
Like most IJA gear, assembling the shelter half “pack” is not terribly difficult but does take practice to get it looking the best and also remaining effective for field use (nothing worse than assembly failures in the field).
Lay out shelter half flat and organize the contents you wish to pack away. For this tutorial we are using a blanket and a raincoat, but items like toiletries bag, documents bag, reserve rations, spare uniforms, socks, etc. are recommended.
Place your neatly organized equipment at the bottom corner of the shelter half. Try to keep your equipment bundled with “soft” equipment towards your body for comfort (don’t put your tent stakes digging into your back!) Note the orientation of the ties and grommets.
Roll your shelter half until you have something that looks similar to the image. Note you should have basically a thick center with long tailes since you rolled a diamond. Keep as tight as possible so it won’t slip apart.
Twist the ends of your shelter half similar to a candy wrapper to secure the center section. Use the ties on the shelter half to secure this (see zoomed photo for example)
This is the only “difficult” part of assembly. Here you are making the shoulder “straps” out of the end of the shelter half. Twist the left over material to make a tight strap. Then you feed the rope through the tent pole grommet and tie to secure. When being worn the triangle should face upwards so the pack does not come apart.
Complete your ensemble with a leather strap or rope to secure your hango to the pack. Additionally you can tie off additional bags like the original image that opened this article or other equipment like the shovel seen on the reconstructed version. Wearing takes some getting to used to especially if you are in full combat kit.
Various imagines from China & South Seas/Philippines Campaigns showcasing the use of the shelter half pack.
