The fall of the Third Reich, 1944-45 - Professor Richard J Evans

Why did Germans keep fighting even when the war was so clearly lost? The worse the situation became, the more the regime used terror and coercion to impose its will. Some hoped for rescue by 'wonder-weapons'. Many Germans carried on because they thought they were fighting for Germany. Nationalism was what fundamentally motivated the officers who tried to kill Hitler in July 1944. The last semblance of normal life disappeared in the destruction and chaos of the last months of war.