The Sportpalast was the site of Hitler's Winterhilfe address of September 4, 1940, in which he announced a shift to bombing of British cities rather than only military targets, heralding the beginning of the London Blitz. But the most significant of many Nazi speeches and rallies at the Sportpalast was Goebbels's Total War speech on February 18, 1943 – two weeks after the disastrous German defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad. In his fanatical appeal to "totaler Krieg" before a select Nazi audience, Goebbels sought to rally the German people to heightened support for the war, which had begun to turn against Germany and was producing ever-growing casualty lists.