Believing in Winston Churchill's repeated statements that Italy was the "soft underbelly of Europe" and the Italian campaign would be easy, King in the fall of 1943 decided to keep the 1st Division, which was operating as part of the British Eighth Army, in the Italian campaign and to send the division to the mainland of Italy. Furthermore, King decided to send the 5th Canadian Armoured Division and the 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade to Italy, which now formed the I Canadian Corps of the Eighth Army. Contrary to Churchill's promises and King's hopes, the Italian campaign proved to be anything but the "soft underbelly of Europe" as the mountains favoured the defensive, and the Germans made expert use of the mountains of Italy to fight a bitter defensive campaign that took a heavy toll on the Allies. McNaughton for his part had protested strongly against losing the I Canadian Corps to the Eighth Army, as he much preferred to keep both I and II Canadian corps together in the First Canadian Army, making increasingly furious remarks on the issue. The Defence Minister, Colonel Ralston, had McNaughton removed on the spurious grounds of ill-health in December 1943, though Desmond Morton noted that McNaughton appeared very healthy when he returned to Canada later that month.