Winter momentarily interrupted the vast operations on the front of the Isonzo. The military leaders took advantage of this interruption to reorganize their armies and to reach agreement with their allies on new plans to attack the enemy. The Supreme Command improved the positions of the Second Army and of the Third Army; the artillery was moved closer to the front; on the Medio and Alto Isonzo the defenses were strengthened (in the same way as on the plateau of Kolovrat); and along the river Tagliamento new reserve lines were set up. Furthermore, despite the opposition of the Minister for War Zuppelli (substituted in March by General Marrone), conscription was extended and new battalions of infantry, bersaglieri and Alpini were set up with the intention of joining the front on the Dolomites and at Tyrol. At international level the Allies instead asked Italy and Russia to launch coordinated attacks at the start of spring in order to ease the pressure on the western front. The proposals by Cadorna, who wanted to wait for the snow of the Karst to thaw, were in this way put aside.
The German attack on Verdun on 21st February, however, changed the strategy of the allies. France, in serious difficulty, requested that what was agreed upon during the conference among the allies be brought forward. As a result Cadorna had to launch the Fifth Battle of the Isonzo on 11th March 1916. Organized hurriedly, its main objectives as well as its results did not change with respect to 1915: yet again Mount Calvario proved itself an insurmountable obstacle while small progress was registered on Mount Sabotino and on the line between Mount Sei Busi and Monfalcone.
San Martino del Carso, a small village on the western slopes of Mount San Michele, was conquered for a few hours before it fell again under the hands of the Austro-Hungarians thanks to a counterattack with tear gas. Further north, on the peaks around the city of Tolmino, climatic conditions were still very difficult and almost immediately caused the interruption of military action which ended on the whole front on 15th March without any conquest and with the loss of 13,000 men.
