Second man picks up the rifle...

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.