Skobelev gave soldiers oral St George Crosses and strewed telegraph wire before the trenches

Skobelev had his own approach to awarding decorations. When he was asked why he preferred to give his best soldiers the “voiced” St George Crosses rather than the named ones, although the named ones rank higher, Skobelev explained: “The voiced one he will get now, and be happy; but put him up for the named one and it will not be confirmed in under three months, and in that time the poor fellow may be killed twenty times over.”

I also read of Mikhail Dmitrievich’s discovery of scattering telegraph wire in front of the trenches, so that when the enemy tried to creep closer to the positions by night, they would become entangled in the wire, and its noise would draw the sentries’ attention.