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A howitzer is a type of artillery piece characterized by a relatively short barrel and the use of comparatively small propellant charges to propel projectiles at relatively high trajectories, with a steep angle of descent. In the taxonomies of artillery pieces used by European (and European-style) armies in the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, the howitzer stood between the "gun" (characterized by a longer barrel, larger propelling charges, smaller shells, higher velocities, and flatter trajectories) and the "mortar" (which was meant to fire at even higher angles of ascent and descent). Howitzers, like other artillery equipments, are usually organized in groups called batteries. ==Etymology== The English word ''howitzer'' comes from the Czech word ''houfnice'',〔(OEtymD: Howitzer )〕〔''The Concise Oxford English Dictionary'', 4th edition reprinted, 1956: Howitzer〕〔Paul, Hermann. 1960. Deutsches Wörterbuch. Haubitze〕 from ''houf'', "crowd",〔Stephen Turnbull: ''The Hussite Wars, 1419–36''. P.46〕〔(Christopher Gravett: German Medieval Armies 1300-1500 )〕〔"houfnice" in Václav Machek, ''Etymologický slovník jazyka českého'', second edition, Academia, 1968〕 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〔Stephen Turnbull: The Hussite Wars, 1419-36 ()〕 to fire at short distances into crowds of infantry, or into charging heavy cavalry, to make horses shy away.〔''The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary'', (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1973), I, p. 992〕 The word was rendered into German as ''aufeniz'' in the earliest attested use in a document dating from 1440; later German renderings include ''haussnitz'' and, eventually ''haubitze'', from which derive the Scandinavian ''haubits'', Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian ''haubica'', Finnish ''haupitsi'', Polish ''haubica'', Russian and Bulgarian ''gaubitsa (гаубица)'', Italian ''obice'', Spanish ''obús'', Portuguese ''obus'', French ''obusier'' and the Dutch word ''houwitser,'' which led to the English word ''howitzer''. Since the First World War, the word ''howitzer'' has been increasingly used to describe artillery pieces that, strictly speaking, belong to the category of ''gun-howitzers'' - relatively long barrels and high muzzle velocities combined with multiple propelling charges and high maximum elevations. This is particularly true in the armed forces of the United States, where gun-howitzers have been officially described as "howitzers" for more than sixty years. Because of this practice, the word "howitzer" is used in some armies as a generic term for any kind of artillery piece that is designed to attack targets using indirect fire. Thus, artillery pieces that bear little resemblance to howitzers of earlier eras are now described as ''howitzers'', although the British call them ''guns''. Most other armies in the world reserve the word ''howitzer'' for guns with barrel lengths 15 to 25 times their caliber, longer-barreled guns being cannons. The British had a further method of nomenclature. In the 18th century they adopted projectile weight for guns replacing the old naming system of culverin, saker, etc. that had developed in the late 15th century. Mortars had been categorized by calibre in inches in the 17th century and this was inherited by howitzers.〔''Artillery: Its Origin, Heyday and Decline'', Brigadier OFG Hogg, London, C Hurst and Company,1970〕 Current U.S. military doctrine defines howitzers as any cannon artillery capable of high-angle (45° to 90° elevation) and low angle (45° to 0° elevation) fire; guns are defined as being only capable of low-angle fire, and mortars only capable of high-angle fire. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「howitzer」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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