If orders can be misunderstood, they will be. War is like love. To triumph, you must make contact. Boldness becomes rarer, the higher the rank. Never reinforce failure.
Failure reinforces itself.
When a front line soldier overhears two General Staff officers conferring, he's fallen back too far. It isn't necessary to be an idiot to be a senior officer, but it sure helps. No captain can do very wrong who places his ship alongside that of the enemy. Always know when it's time to get out of Dodge. Always know how to get out of Dodge.