Whether Manstein and the German Supreme Command wanted to believe it or not, the cruel reality was already laid out before everyone's eyes.
The failure of Manstein's Second Armored Cluster triggered the rout of the entire German Army Group South.
This was also the only possible outcome, seeing as this armored cluster had originally been pulled from the frontline battlefield, and the firepower losses on the front lines were bound to be seized upon by the Russians to exploit the gaps.
Coupled with the fact that the retreat route of the Second Armored Cluster heavily overlapped with the rear of the German army on the front lines, if the German forces on the front lines had remained on the Stalingrad battlefield, the most probable outcome would have been their retreat routes being cut off, followed by a counter-encirclement executed by the Russian Army.
One had to bear in mind that this concerned the safety of over three million German soldiers. Upon learning that Manstein's armored cluster had failed in its offensive and had already fallen back, the commander of German Army Group South did not hesitate for a second, directly issuing the order to retreat.
Yet the German retreat was far from glorious, especially with the Russian Army in relentless pursuit and biting at their heels.
Falling back was merely a polite term for it; the actual situation for the German army on the battlefield was a succession of continuous routs, with the soldiers facing a complete reversal of the situation before they even had time to react.
Just a day prior, the German army was still pressing a fierce offensive, capturing house after house in Stalingrad. By the following day, the German army was already fleeing in haste, their fallen comrades behind them being continuously wiped out by the