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
Type 41 75 mm mountain gun Type 41 75 mm mountain gun The Type 41 75 mm mountain gun is a Japanese license-built copy of the Krupp M1908 mountain gun. The Type 41 number was designated for the year the gun was accepted, the 41st year of Emperor Meiji's reign, 1908 in the Gregorian calendar. Originally it was the standard pack artillery weapon. After it was superseded by the Type 94 75 mm mountain gun, it was then used as an infantry "regimental" gun, deployed four to each infantry regiment, and referred to as ""rentai ho"" (regimental artillery). Two Gun shields were produced for the weapon,