Battle of Stalingrad of January 1943, though positive media reports had stopped in the weeks before the announcement. Stalingrad marked the first time that the Nazi government publicly acknowledged a failure in its war effort. On 31 January, regular programmes on German state radio were replaced by a broadcast of the somber Adagio movement from Anton Bruckner's Seventh Symphony, followed by the announcement of the defeat at Stalingrad. On 18 February, Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels gave the famous "Sportpalast" speech in Berlin, encouraging the Germans to accept a total war that would claim all resources and efforts from the entire population. Based
Bombing of Stalingrad flank of the German advance to the Caucasus oilfields. Fiebig's superior's, "Generaloberst" Wolfram von Richthofen’s "Luftflotte 4" held a 1,600 kilometer eastern frontage in July and concentrated its efforts on Stalingrad, with the air support missions in the Caucasus under Kurt Pflugbeil's "Fliegerkorps IV" and at the Voronezh battle being given a lower priority. Logistics for "Fliegerkorps VIII" received the highest preference, as Richthofen saw the capture of Stalingrad as the key to German success on the entire Eastern Front. Richthofen requested additional Junkers Ju 52 transport groups from "Oberkommando der Luftwaffe" and transferred Pflugbeil's groups, as well as his