This was the Allied Combined Chiefs-of-Staff conference held in Malta to prepare military decisions before the 'Magneto' conference at Yalta between the 'big three; leaders (30 January/2 February 1945).

'Cricket' (ii) and 'Magneto' together comprised 'Argonaut', and the conferences fixed the immediate priorities of the Allied forces in western and southern Europe, with emphasis on the early termination of the main campaign in Germany by refusal to dilute forces for peripheral operations in Italy and the Balkans except where absolutely necessary for reasons of post-war stability.