By the beginning of 1944, the German advance in Europe had been halted, the Axis forces had been defeated in North Africa and Churchill had convinced the Americans to maintain the pressure in Italy. As the Allies fought their way up from southern Italy, they faced the monastery at Monte Cassino, the strongest point of a powerful German defensive line. The conflict that followed lasted four months, left a quarter of a million dead or wounded, and has been subsequently described as one of the toughest and bloodiest battles fought in western Europe in World War II.