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 Type 95 75 mm field gun The was a field gun used by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. It was intended to replace the Type 38 75 mm field gun and the Type 41 75 mm cavalry gun in front line combat units but, due to operational and budgetary constraints, only a small number were produced, and the Type 38 and Type 41 continued to be used. The Type 95 number was designated for the year the gun was accepted, 2595 in the Japanese imperial year calendar, or 1935 in the Gregorian calendar. Prior to World War