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 90 75 mm field gun firing high-explosive, armor-piercing, shrapnel, incendiary, smoke and illumination shells. Its range of for a weight of compared well with its contemporaries. The Type 90 75 mm field gun was issued primarily to units based in Manchukuo, and was rarely deployed to the Pacific theatre of operations. Its initial use in combat was against the Soviet Red Army at the Battle of Nomonhan. When deployed later against Allied forces, it was often used as an anti-tank gun, as its high speed shells were effective against armored vehicles. It was also used at the Battle of the Philippines, Battle of Iwo Jima