| rdfs:comment | - In September 1916, Nivelle was promoted by Commander-in-Chief Joffre to command the 2nd Army, replacing General Pétain, who had been promoted upwards out of the way. At the 2nd Army Headquarters in Souilly, Nivelle celebrated his promotion with General Charles Mangin, and Nivelle planned a new attack on the north face of Fort Douaumont. General Joffre arrived and authorized the attack, reminding Nivelle that he expected results from his new Verdun commander, selected because he was unafraid to attack at all costs. One of Nivelle's new orders was to replace the existing couriers with fresh Belgian troops, as the French couriers had been infiltrated by German spies. After signing a new order to attack, Nivelle passed the orders to Major Marat, who dispatched Henri Defense (Indiana Jones) to
- Robert Georges Nivelle (15 October 1856 – 22 March 1924) was a French artillery officer who served in the Boxer Rebellion, and the First World War. Nivelle was a very capable commander and organizer of field artillery at the regimental and divisional levels. In May 1916, he was given command of the French Second Army in the Battle of Verdun, leading counter-offensives that rolled back the German forces in late 1916. However he and General Charles Mangin were already accused of wasting French lives at Verdun.
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| abstract | - In September 1916, Nivelle was promoted by Commander-in-Chief Joffre to command the 2nd Army, replacing General Pétain, who had been promoted upwards out of the way. At the 2nd Army Headquarters in Souilly, Nivelle celebrated his promotion with General Charles Mangin, and Nivelle planned a new attack on the north face of Fort Douaumont. General Joffre arrived and authorized the attack, reminding Nivelle that he expected results from his new Verdun commander, selected because he was unafraid to attack at all costs. One of Nivelle's new orders was to replace the existing couriers with fresh Belgian troops, as the French couriers had been infiltrated by German spies. After signing a new order to attack, Nivelle passed the orders to Major Marat, who dispatched Henri Defense (Indiana Jones) to the front. That evening, Pétain was at the senior officer's dinner at the headquarters, joking with Mangin, when Major Marat arrived with the results of the day's attack: no gain, and 600 casualties. Neville blamed the failure on Colonel Barc and the cowardice of the troops, and demanded that Barc appear the next morning in person. Pétain grew upset and stormed out of the meal. Two days later, while at the billiards table, Nivelle received intelligence from Barc and Defense, who had returned from a night time spy mission, that the Germans were bringing in two Big Bertha guns. Nivelle questioned Defense and reminded him that traitors would be shot, but Pétain stepped in and made it clear that he felt that Defense was telling the truth. Not believing that the Germans were bringing in larger guns, he dismissed Barc to return to the front to prepare for another assault on the fort. Knowing that the guns would massacre the attackers, Pétain tried to get Nivelle to cancel his attack, but Nivelle left for a breakfast appointment. After breakfast, he and Mangin learned that Pétain had confirmed Defense's intelligence with some aerial reconnaissance photos. Pétain tried to get Nivelle to cancel the attack, but Nivelle refused, stating that he had his orders to attack. Pétain wrote new orders to cancel Nivelle's previous orders, and gave Marat the orders to pass to a courier. After the courier went out, General Joffre arrived and noticed that the French artillery had stopped, though it was not time yet for the attack. When Joffre questioned Nivelle, Nivelle gave terse replies which prompted Pétain to admit that he had stopped the artillery barrage and canceled the attack. Furious at Nivelle for going along with Pétain, Joffre re-authorized the attack, and called Barc to re-start the attack. Having received Pétain's written cancellation order and not willing to have his men needlessly slaughtered, Barc reminded the commander-in-chief that a written order could only be changed by another written order, as per Joffre's own regulations. Enraged, Joffre wrote out a new order, and it was given to Defense to bring to the front lines. In the end, the attack was not started, as Defense had secretly destroyed the orders by feigning a German airstrike on his motorcycle. In 1917 Nivelle ordered the 124th Squadron to take pictures of a reported arms build-up at the railroad yard in Hamme, 40 kms behind the lines.
- Robert Georges Nivelle (15 October 1856 – 22 March 1924) was a French artillery officer who served in the Boxer Rebellion, and the First World War. Nivelle was a very capable commander and organizer of field artillery at the regimental and divisional levels. In May 1916, he was given command of the French Second Army in the Battle of Verdun, leading counter-offensives that rolled back the German forces in late 1916. However he and General Charles Mangin were already accused of wasting French lives at Verdun. Following his successes at Verdun, he was promoted to commander-in-chief of the French armies on the Western Front in December 1916, largely because of his persuasiveness with French and British political leaders, aided by his fluency in English. He was responsible for the Nivelle Offensive at the Chemin des Dames, which faced a large degree of suspicion about its effectiveness during its planning stages. When the offensive failed to achieve a breakthrough on the Western Front, a major mutiny occurred, affecting roughly half the French Army, which conducted no further major offensive action for several months. Nivelle was replaced as commander-in-chief in May 1917.
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