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 95 75 mm field gun and the Soviet-Japanese Border Wars reverted to a simpler and more rugged design for the Type 95 field gun, which entered production in 1935. The Type 95 75 mm gun has an appearance similar to the Model 90 75 mm gun. It is derived from the Model 1933 Schneider 75, which it closely resembles. However, only a total of 261 units were produced, and the Type 38 75 mm field gun and the Type 41 75 mm cavalry gun continued to be used by front line combat units until the surrender of Japan. Although occasionally mentioned as a copy of