Supply depots are a type of military installation

Military base

A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. In general, a military base provides accommodations for one or more units, but it may also be used as a...

 used by armies to store battlefield supplies temporarily on or near the front lines until they can be distributed to army units.

Supply depots are similar to ammunition dump

Ammunition dump

An ammunition dump, ammunition compound, ammunition depot, bomb dump, ammunition supply point or ammo dump, is a military storage facility for live ammunition and explosives....

s, but while ammunition dumps primarily store ammunition

Ammunition

Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...

, supply depots are responsible for nearly all other types of materiel

Materiel

Materiel is a term used in English to refer to the equipment and supplies in military and commercial supply chain management....

.

Supply depots are usually run by a logistics officer

Logistics Officer

A Logistics Officer is a member of an armed force responsible for overseeing the support of an army, air force, or navy both at home and abroad. Logistics Officers can be stationary on military bases or deployed as an active part of a field army, air wing, or naval force. The responsibilities of...

 who is responsible for allocating supplies as necessary to units who request them.

Due to their vulnerability, supply depots are often the targets of enemy attacks or raids. In more modern times, depots have been targeted by long range artillery and bomber aircraft, due to the advantage that disrupted logistics can give to an enemy force.