The short break in the fighting at the height of the winter of 1943/44 allowed for a reassessment of approach in Italy. The question of how to break the stalemate on the ‘Winter Line’ had been discussed at the ‘Sextant’ Conference in Cairo and the ‘Eureka’ Conference in Tehran in late November and early December 1943. On 19 December, Churchill signalled the British Chiefs of Staff: ‘there is no doubt’, he said, ‘that the stagnation of the whole campaign on the Italian front is becoming scandalous’. It was known that the success of German defensive operations south of Rome had encouraged Hitler to transfer the best part of five divisions to the Eastern Front.