It would be nice if Relic let the balance team remove the balancing nightmare that is bolster. It would be a million times easier to balance a 5 man Tommy from the beginning than trying to balance 4 man and 5 man tommies at the same time.
Pre patch, may be, but now, i dont think so.
Its honestly not close in my experience, both grens and volks stomp Tommies until brens and bolster. Tommies might win in green cover but I've seen axis infantry beat Tommies in green cover, and they are terrible at any range except long, their inflexibility makes them awful early.