fighting against the Germans at Verdun, and he took direct control of the army on 1 May 1916. Nivelle is considered to have squandered the lives of his soldiers in wasteful counter-attacks during the Battle of Verdun; only one fresh reserve brigade was left with the Second Army by 12 June. After the Germans captured Fleury on 23 June, Nivelle issued an Order of the Day which ended with the now-famous line: Ils ne passeront pas! (They shall not pass!). Nivelle ordered the employment of a creeping barrage when the French made their initial counter-stroke on 24 October. The artillery supporting the infantry focused more on suppressing German troops as opposed to destroying specific objects. These tactics proved effective: French troops re-took Fleury on 24 October, as well as Fort Douaumont, whose capture by the Germans on 25 February 1916 had been highly celebrated in Germany. Nivelle's successful counter-strokes were an important factor behind the decision to appoint him to become the commander-in-chief of the French armies on 12 December 1916. The then French Prime Minister Aristide Briand was extremely impressed by Nivelle, telling the other leaders at the Rome Conference (January 1917) that during his Verdun attacks Nivelle had sent telegrams from various places on the advance, achieving his objectives exactly according to the predicted timetable. Commander-in-Chief Nivelle had less power than his predecessor Joffre. He was placed under the orders of the War Minister Hubert Lyautey and, unlike Joffre, Nivelle's authority did not extend over the Salonika front. Nivelle's slogan (also attributed to Petain) was: "the artillery conquers; the infantry occupies". He believed that a saturation bombardment, followed by a creeping barrage and by aggressive infantry assaults, could break the enemy's front defences and help French troops reach the German gun-line during a single attack, which would be followed by a breakthrough within two days. Nivelle's plan in 1917, was for the British to take over an extra 20 miles of French front to free up French troops, then Anglo-French wearing-out attacks between Arras and the Oise to keep German reserve troops occupied, then a surprise attack by French forces on the Aisne, the "GAR" (Army Group Reserve or Rupture: two armies in the line and another two (27 divisions) in reserve, 1.2 million men in total) to exploit the rupture of the German defences that was expected to occur as a result. The attack would be broken