Well, if you look at Kasserine Pass, for instance, you see a US army that is poorly commanded and can't respond fast enough to the German attack. That may purely be bad leadership, but I see it as at least partly lack of independent thinking.

Don't read too much into my answer. I'm not an expert, and I hadn't even thought about the question until my first reply on this thread. It's an off-the-cuff impression, not a well-thought-out position.