What are you talking about? Maxim is so bad that the Grenadier can get close to Maxim in the front and kill him with a single rifle grenade, while the grenadiers will not be suppressed.
I doubt that, because the Maxim's time to suppress at long range on neutral cover (~2,6s) is shorter than the time it takes for Grens to get within riflenade range and play the firing animation, and it will cancel when they become suppressed due to the reduced range it gets. Unless the Grens used sight blockers or heavy cover to get close, in which case it's okay that they can because all HMGs should lose engagements that are unfavorable to them.
Besides, the Maxim's huge crew ensures at least half of them will survive a riflenade. Unless they are all clumped up in yellow cover, but that's a player micro error.