The Liberator was conceived in 1942 as part of a plan by the US Army’s Joint Psychological Warfare Committee to manufacture inexpensive, quickly mass-produced pistols to arm resistance fighters in enemy-occupied territories. The single-shot pistol was not issued to US or Allied forces during World War II. Instead, it was intended to be air-dropped in large quantities to resistance fighters, who were to use the “one shot, one kill” pistol and then retrieve the dead or incapacitated enemy soldier’s more effective weaponry. The gun was given the misleading name Flare Projector Caliber .45 and designated FP-45, intentionally disguising the disposable pistol as a signal flare gun. Approximately one million pistols were manufactured by General Motors Guide Lamp Division, but only a small percentage were used in the war.