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How important were small arms in WWII?

I ask this after glancing at yet another thread about swapping out everyone's rifles for something else. Speaking as a Brit who has never fired a gun before, I'm curious about why these are so popular. Most casualties in WWII were inflicted by artillery, and the decisive arms of manouvere were tanks and aircraft. When the infantry fought, their machine guns (as opposed to rifles, submachine guns and a smattering of assault rifles), from what I've read, did most of the damage anyway.

Obviously, small arms aren't insignificant. If the British Army decided to equip everyone with the Brown Bess to fight the Hun, it would have been a pretty poor decision. But, say, the difference between a Lee-Enfield or Sten Gun and an StG-44 or Gewehr... is it that significant in the grand scheme of things?
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