The helmet cover was first used by French soldiers during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

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Helmet covers are usually made out of canvas or cotton and come in many camouflage

Military camouflage

Military camouflage is one of many means of deceiving an enemy. In practice, it is the application of colour and materials to battledress and military equipment to conceal them from visual observation. The French slang word camouflage came into common English usage during World War I when the...

 designs, for example: woodland, desert or urban, and different camouflage patterns like MARPAT

MARPAT

MARPAT is a digital camouflage pattern in use with the United States Marine Corps, introduced with the Marine Corps Combat Utility Uniform , which replaced the Camouflage Utility Uniform. The pattern is formed by a number of small rectangular pixels of color...

, CADPAT

CADPAT

Canadian Disruptive Pattern is the computer-generated digital camouflage pattern currently used by the Canadian Forces . CADPAT is designed to reduce the likelihood of detection by night vision devices. The basic uniform consists of a wide brim combat hat, helmet cover, shirt, jacket, trousers,...

 and ACUPAT. It can also be used for UN peacekeeping missions with a UN Blue colour helmet cover. Helmet covers are generally a flat colour to stop any reflection from a metal helmet. Helmet covers are attached to the helmet in many different ways, such as a tight rubber lip which goes all the way around the helmet rim and is pulled on and peeled off, also there are versions with draw-strings and types which are attached to the helmet suspension system.

Helmet covers are used by most armies and are in the camouflage pattern of the country/military's camouflage pattern, but some armies do have different covers to the uniform, for example Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n Bundesheer wear several different helmet covers and have not got one standardized cover for every soldier.