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Developed by a Canadian engineering officer during World War I,
the Nissen hut was fairly simple to assemble. The ends of each
hut were made in three wooden sections constructed so that they
could be assembled in a few minutes. The deck consisted of wooden
panels resting upon a frame of two-by-fours, while the roof and
sides were made of corrugated metal. Two layers of metal were
used on the lower sides and a single layer above on the roof,
and the whole supported by curved I-beam steel ribs. The interior
was lined with sheets of insulation board. Each hut was issued
with a complete kit of tools and hardware. The only on-site fabrication
was production of the concrete or lava block foundation piles.
A crew of six or more men could erect a hut in a few hours, and
teams specializing in various parts were even faster. The Quonset
hut of the Pacific War was the more deluxe and larger American
offspring of the Nissen hut.
Living in the Nissen huts was basic and simple for all ranks.
The tin-roofed building had a few small windows and doors with
wind-baffle vestibules at the end or on one side. Insulation board
lined the interiors. The huts had bare wooden decks and the outside
foundation was banked with dirt and sod. Interior lighting was
furnished by kerosene lanterns until eventually all camps had
gasoline generators which provided electricity to light the few
bulbs in each hut. Heat was provided by small British coke-and-coal
stoves until later when the U.S. Army brought some larger potbellied
stoves to Iceland. At no time was it ever warm enough to dispense
with the stoves. They provided heat for wash water and to help
dry clothing strung on lines. Each camp had its supply pile of
large, coal-filled bags. Wooden kindling for firing stoves was
at a premium because there was no natural source of wood in Iceland.
All boxes and shipping crates were carefully saved and hoarded
for fire-making.
There were about 24 men assigned to a hut. They had wood and canvas
folding cots, a thin cotton mattress pad, mattress cover, and
two woolen blankets. The primary furniture was wooden boxes collected
by all ranks for toilet gear and bunkside storage. There was nothing
to sit on except the cots and a few folding canvas chairs which
accompanied company and battalion field desks.
Source: Donovan, James A. Outpost
in the North Atlantic: Marines in the Defense of Iceland.
Washington: History and Museums Division, Headquarters, US Marine
Corps, 1992.
26 August 1998