After the major defeat at Stalingrad in early 1943, Nazi Germany expanded its recruitment efforts to non-Germans. The efforts to form a Lithuanian Waffen-SS legion failed and the Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force was disbanded. German officials then shifted their strategy in an attempt to form auxiliary units. The process was supervised by Major General (1885–1947), chief military commandant in occupied Lithuania. His proclamations were better received by the Lithuanians: the Wehrmacht was still somewhat respected unlike the SS or the civil administration ("Generalbezirk Litauen"). The propaganda also exploited Just's fatherly figure and distant Lithuanian heritage. The official ceremony of sending out the first group of about 120 Lithuanian volunteers was held on March 20, 1943.