General Erich von Falkenhayn the German Chief of the General Staff was dismissed on 29 August 1916 and replaced by Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, with First General Erich Ludendorff as his deputy. (Third OHL, the new supreme command) ordered an end to attacks at Verdun and the dispatch of troops from there to Romania and the Somme front. On 5 September, proposals for a new shorter defensive position to be built in France were requested from the commanders of the western armies, who met Hindenburg and Ludendorff at Cambrai on 8 September. The western front commanders were told that no reserves were available for offensive operations, except those planned for Romania. Georg Fuchs, one of the corps commanders, recommended that a defensive line be built from Arras to west of Laon, shortening the front by and releasing ten divisions which, with other troops, could be used for an offensive in Alsace or Lorraine. Ludendorff criticised the practice of holding ground regardless of its tactical value and advocated holding front-line positions with a minimum of troops and the recapture of lost positions by counter-attacks, a practice that had already been forced on the German armies on the Somme.