I think you are using them wrong, Partisans are great for: killing a support weapon, spawning behind lines and capping and placing mines. If partisans are fighting infantry you are using them wrong. Also once they have served their usefulness get them killed so that your conscripts get the mg ect
Trust me, I'm not using them wrong.
They are good for mining everything up and back capping, but so are CEs and CEs are much more combat effective.
Partisans need to be able to stand up on their own, relic should either remove their DPS penalty that doesn't make any sense or make them 6 men squads, so they can take a hit.
Right now, they melt in seconds and hit like wet noodles, the only appealing part of partisan doctrine-female partisans, was removed from the game as well, so not much reason to go for them, which is sad, because I love both them and irregulars(and osttruppen, but these guys can actually stand up for their own right now).