In 2v2 the best way to deal with elefant I found is to sneak a guard squad in and button the elefant. Then you or your teammate calls in the IL2 bombing strike which leaves the elefant with around 1%HP if he was full health. Then just finish it with the guard or su85
Agreed but that usually happens when my mg just deployed or when the mg42 is in no or red cover. I don't see how this can be changed with minimal effects on flanking and survivability of the mg42 in general