Reg, G4FGQ wrote:
"The German Generals must have known then that the war was lost. But it
was not until 5 months later, in the Battle of Machines around the City
of Kursk, on the broad summer grasslands of the surrounding stepps,
littered with thousands of burning tanks, wrecked mobile guns and
aircraft, and troop carriers, that Hitler must have been convinced of
ultimate defeat."

You would think so. Fortunately, for the most part, Hitler wasn`t known
for seeking and following the counsel of his subordinates, some of whom
were very competent. Often it seems Hitler believed what he wanted to
believe. His hubris was a serious fault, second only to his lack of
respect for human decency. The world would have been better off had
Hitler had minor vices, I believe. Hitler was a teatotaler, non-smoker,
vegetarian, and monogamous. Why couldnt he have been more like a
Churchill or a Roosevelt? With less imagined supeiority, he might have
been an ordinary fellow.

Hitler may have refused far too long to admit that Germany had lost the
war, but there are plenty of stories that his subordinates knew.

They were aware of the Allies weaknesses but they also recognized Allied
strength.

U.S. P-38 fighter planes were outclassed by single-engined German
fighters over Europe. But, when Herman Goering saw P-51 fighters
escorting Allied Bombers over Berlin, he is reported to have declared
Germany as the loser in the war, and that Germany should immediately
seek peace. He said that, knowing the Luftwaffe, though on the
defensive, was equipped with fantastic weapons including superb
conventional aircraft and with jets and rockets coming online. The fact
was that the U.S. could build aircraft faster than the Germans could
shoot them down.

Best regards, Richard Harrison, KB5WZI