AT grenades in the real world were vastly more dangerous than they currently are in CoH2, which means soviet handheald AT is gimped because of 'design choices' that have little to nothing to do with the reality of the weapons. Even molotovs were terrifying anti tank weapons if used right. Soviets have a preference for close quarters infantry used to clear tanks, and they're not allowed it in game, because Krupp 2 Stronk.
We're also not allowed side armour because that would make german tanks worse but soviet ones mostly exactly the same. 2 Krupp 2 Furious.
Yes, undoubtedly. Sound reasoning. Relic "does not allow side armor" because every evening before going to bed they worship at the shrine of the Panzer.
If you look at actual German armour loss statistics (Jentz, Panzertruppen is easily accessible and has quite a few AARs if you dont wanna go Freiburg), AT grenades were all but irrelevant and did not constitute a major factor, whereas AT rifles figured prominently until the widespread proliferation of skirts, especially in inflicting mission/mobility kills and crew losses.
In fact, the Germans were a good deal more dependant on, and successful with, all sorts of close combat AT implements, AT nades/explosives/Haftholladungen etc than the Soviets...