Yeah, they were stuck with what they had tooling for. That was specifically brought up in the case of the Red Army: they had designs, but they couldn't possibly

Yeah, they were stuck with what they had tooling for. That was specifically brought up in the case of the Red Army: they had designs, but they couldn't possibly supply the numbers. Not after the purges, and then the utterly preposterous losses of 1941-1942. Which, well, a lot of that was the purges. It forced them to re-equip the whole Red Army three times over. I guess without the purges, a whole lot changes. It's a huge wildcard in the alternate history. Also, doctrine, logistics, the everything . . just didn't know what to do with a infantry platoon when everyone has a machine gun. It screwed up the machine . . and, let's be honest, the infantryman's small arm is a teensy tiny minority of where casualties come from. Even back in 1941. Far better to keep the big wheel turning with motorized transport, artillery, aircraft.