I'm very interested in WW2 and I asked my grandfather about this when he was still alive. First of all, the Russian was very sophisticated towards the end of the war, while there were some shortages of material in the early stages.

Later, from 1943 onwards, it was very obvious how the Sowjets were superior in their military strengh. They started to equip whole infantry squads with submachine guns. He was in the middle section of the eastern front, in the division "Wiking" which suffered heavy losses in the defensive battles. From what he said, there is more truth to this than others claim. The Sowjets had a "racial hirachy" amongst their troops. Their strategy of assault attacks with little regard for losses was quite unique for this war. They often shelled the front trenches, then they sent Hungarians or Mongolians who were poorly equipped. He also mentioned the very thing you asked: That they sometimes had to pick up weapons from fallen comrads. The "real" russians in the 2nd wave were very good equipped and had tank support.

So, my personal interview of a witness contradicts the statements of some people here, but the information from one person is unlikely to be representative for the rest of the war. As others mentioned, those poorly equipped and very drunk people in the front line might have been punishment batallions. It is quite unlikely that they couldn't equip their soldiers properly in the later phases of the war because their war industry was very sophisticated at that point.

I emphasise that this is an isolated statement and I don't claim that it is representative. I know the rules are quite strictly here, but I thought I might share it. Please let me know when it's against the rules.