Merlinettes was the colloquial name given to the women of the (C.F.T) (Women's Signal Corps) of the French army during World War II. Their nickname was derived from the creator of the corps Colonel Lucien Merlin, who formed the unit in the winter of 1942, training took place in French Algeria. The Merlinettes took part in most campaigns of the Liberation of France, from the landing in Provence to the Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine as well as the Italian campaign. In April 1944 about 1,095 women were serving in the Corps reaching a peak by the end of the war of over 2,000. They are considered the first female soldiers of the French army.