What benefits did the soviet armies have when fighting Germany?

Answer 1

Cold weather.

Answer 2

Well, they had lots of advantages that the Germans lacked; these advantages also changed as the war dragged on.

When Germany first invaded the USSR, the Soviet military wasn't fully prepared for it, but they did have some things in their favor. The main advantage was their tanks. They had heavy tanks like the KV-1 and KV-2 early in the war, while Germany lacked heavy tanks; Germany's medium tanks sometimes struggled to defeat the KV-1s especially. Additionally, the T-34 tanks turned out to be surprisingly good- they were easily a match for the German tanks.

The Soviets also had the home-field advantage, so to speak. They knew the terrain better, and when adverse weather conditions happened, like the brutal winters and mud seasons, the Soviets were better adapted to them. This helped slow down the Germans. Additionally, the Soviet Union was huge- and full of people. The Soviets had far more men than the Germans did, so them losing 10 million men in a short amount of time wasn't as devastating as it was for the Germans.

As the war went on, the Soviet soldiers gained valuable combat experience, making them better fighters. At the same time, the Germans suffered heavy losses to their veteran troops, and they were unable to easily replace them. By the time the war ended, the meager German armies were often full of teenagers, elderly, and previously wounded, while the Soviets had entire armies of toughened, high quality soldiers who had fought (and won) many battles.

While not initially (thanks to Josef Stalin's pre-war purges), the Soviets also eventually benefited from better top level leadership. Unlike Hitler, Stalin eventually came to realize that he wasn't a great military strategist. By the middle of the war, he turned over most of the military strategy to his more capable generals, especially Zhukov. The Germans would continually be hampered by Hitler's capricious refusal to accept advice from his military officers.