Due to the growing number and manpower of combat groups and partisan detachments, in April 1943 they were organized into the People's Liberation Rebel Army ("Narodoosvoboditelna vastanicheska armija", NOVA). NOVA divided Bulgaria into 12 "Rebel Operative Zones" which implied BWP's intention of seizing power. The Bulgarian authorities responded by intensifying the persecution of resistance members. Thousands of opposition activists were killed, imprisoned or interned. The government created a special gerndarmerie force which received almost unlimited power to pursue the partisans. The gendarmes became notorious for carrying out atrocities against captured partisans and their "yatatsi". Gendarmerie and the police also became increasingly involved in harassment, arson and murders of partisans' families. Partisans staged attacks on railroads and warehouses, used by the German or the Bulgarian forces. When that was possible, they captured villages to organize meetings in support of the FF, destroy police and tax archives and supply themselves with food and arms.