Donate to the Lead Adventure Forum to keep it alive!
The initial Russo-German battles of 1914 were more open-field and trenches don't come into play until a little later (1915 on). The distances on the Eastern Front were much greater than those of the Western, and so trench systems tended to be more clustered around strongpoints, fortresses/towns, ridgelines, crossing points for rivers, etc. Also, in certain areas much of the terrain was swampy, necessitating construction of log barriers instead of actual trenches.
Already during this fighting the Russians had shown themselves to be masters of the art of field fortifications. Their defensive locations were so well distributed and so skilfully blended in that you had to standing literally right next to the front of them in order to see them. The Russian [soldier] proved tougher in battle; his field craft and ability to shoot was up to the standard of a well-trained enemy. As soon as the German [soldier] came into close quarters contact, however, many Russians suddenly lost their resolve. Some fled from the trenches, others raised their arms and rifles high and begged for their lives saying "they were also Christians". Only a few would stand against an attack going in with the bayonet. The Russian field artillery fire was superb, albeit wasting great amounts of ammunition. This arm was, and still is, the elite troops of the enemy.