way to increase the political influence of the Communist Party in the future government of France. A special issue of L'Humanité in February 1942 confirmed the existence of "partisans et de francs-tireurs" (partisans and free-shooters) to whom patriots should give aid and assistance. Another special issue in March 1942 urged people to form such groups to conduct guerrilla war and help the population defend itself against the "boches". The FTP was created in April 1942, led by Charles Tillon. On 3 April 1942 L'Humanité used the expression "Francs-Tireurs et Partisans" for the first time, and in following weeks reported acts of sabotage of war production and attacks against German soldiers and French collaborators. The paper began using the initials FTP in July 1942. The FTP's mandate was to sabotage railways and factories, punish collaborators and assassinate German soldiers. Organization The FTP unified three Communist organizations, the Bataillons de la Jeunesse, the Organisation Spéciale and the Main-d'œuvre immigrée (MOI). The FTP national committee was headed by Charles Tillon, commander in chief. Eugène Hénaff was political commissioner of the force until May 1943, when he was replaced by . Albert Ouzoulias was in charge of operations, and Georges Beyer was responsible for armaments and recruitment. , a captain of the reserve, was Chief of Staff. He wrote some of the manuals on tactics and armament, but his main role was to act as liaison between the FTP and the Gaullist resistance groups. The inter-regional and departmental military committees reported to the central organization in groups of three, a basic principle in the communist Resistance. In the field, each group would consist of two groups of three or four men under a commander and his assistant. For as long as possible they would continue to work in their normal occupations, only coming together to undertake an operation and then if possible returning to their normal daily life. Ouzoulias was a proponent of quick strikes against carefully studied targets by small groups of fighters, who would then rapidly withdraw. He also drew up guidelines for urban warfare in which FTP units could attack greatly superior German forces and be protected while they withdrew. Tillon called this a strategy of "drops of mercury", through which the group could use surprise and mobility to achieve transient superiority before disappearing. The FTP-MOI (Francs-tireurs et partisans – main-d'œuvre immigrée) was created in the spring of 1942 with four