the germans had already lost by the winter of 1941. barbarossa had no strategic path to victory except to win it all during that one summer and fall and collapse the SU. when that didnt happen, they were fucked.

they kept the war going cos they were fascists, but they had no chance of winning. they had no conception of how to achieve victory (beyond trying the same thing they did in 1941 but with a worse army, while the soviets had a better army). they had already lost, they just refused to admit it for years.