Explanation: In WW2, Russian troops being underequipped is a pop-culture myth. The Soviets not only had enough rifles, but a surplus of submachineguns as well; the Soviet infantry, for all the other problems their command foisted on them, was not generally lacking for a firearm to point at the enemy.

… in WW1, on the other hand, many of the called-up Imperial Russian troops were underequipped, with some combat units having a third of their number without rifles as late as 1915.

Also, in WW1, the Brits, having supplied a relatively small expeditionary force, could afford to equip itself faster than the French could, who fielded roughly double the number of men. This despite the Brits themselves largely using a French-designed gas mask at the time.

lol … my grandfather, an Indigenous man from Canada who knew only a few words in English, had never seen a railway, large ship, the ocean or even large modern cities, being shipped overseas to the UK at the end of war.

“What are we doing again? and where are we going?”

“1st man gets rifle, 2nd man gets clip. When 1st man dies 2nd man takes rifle!”