I understand that the Pak howie is great at hitting squads close by and running straight at it, however, my biggest gripe with the pak howie is that it goes against USF faction design.
The USF faction was designed as a high DPS faction that is meant to be constantly on the move and attacking enemy positions. All USF support weapons support this fact. The .50 is capable of setting up quickly, making it a viable support unit for attacking infantry. The M1 57mm AT gun has a fast ROF with low pen, making it a unit that is meant to be used on the flanks of engagements and quickly re-positioned. All USF armor has low survivability, but instead rely on their mobility to make up for their weaknesses.
The USF indirect support weapon should be a fast moving weapon that is meant to constantly reposition to keep up with rapidly moving forces. It should be a lighter mortar or a mortar HT, capable of quickly moving into range, doing its job, and pulling back.
This is the main reason why I find the Pak Howitzer underwhelming. It is a good support weapon in the wrong army. As such it suffers from not having other units adept to doing the same job it does (holding territory), whilst not particularly aiding the mobile tactics required for the use of literally every other USF unit.
This is pretty much it.