As a german history student, I think this is the pretty commonly held view. I think the best German example was Ludendorff. Early in the war, as a fairly junior

As a german history student, I think this is the pretty commonly held view. I think the best German example was Ludendorff. Early in the war, as a fairly junior officer, he bluffed the citadel at Liege into surrendering all by his lonesome. It set him up for the eastern command with Hindenberg and then later as the proto-Hitlerian dictator of Germany at the end of World War I. That said - the word on initiative and discipline is right. Prussian military tradition gave German officers very wide latitude to make their own decisions, until it interfered with the political state or their superiors commands. That said, even great officers can't win against overwhelming odds and opponents with dramatic material superiority.