Howitzer groups called batteries. The English word ""howitzer"" comes from the Czech word ""houfnice"", from "houf", "crowd", and "houf" is in turn a borrowing from the Middle High German word "Hūfe" or "Houfe" (modern German "Haufen"), meaning "heap". "Haufen", sometimes in the compound "Gewalthaufen", also designated a pike square formation in German. In the Hussite Wars of the 1420s and 1430s, the Czechs used short barreled ""houfnice"" cannons to fire at short distances into crowds of infantry, or into charging heavy cavalry, to make horses shy away. The word was rendered into German as "aufeniz" in the earliest attested use in
42-line field gun M1877 siege gun version which had a longer barrel and higher muzzle velocity. 42-line field gun M1877 42-line battery field gun M1877 () was a field gun used by the Russian Imperial Army in late 19th and early 20th centuries. The word "line" in the designation refers to a measurement unit which equals 0.1 inch. The 42-line field gun M1877 was designed by Krupp. Some of the guns were manufactured in Germany while most of them were manufactured in the Obuhov factory in Russia. Use of the guns were limited by lack of equipment needed for indirect fire - the Russian