In response to my post on fire and maneuver in Bolt Action, friend, author, and toy soldier enthusiast J.P. Medved alerted me to a page from the Codex: Imperial Guard back in Warhammer 40k 2nd edition that allows Guard squads to split up just as I described. Back in those days, the boxed IG squads came with a heavy weapon team, usually mounted on some kind of firing platform with gunshield, rather than as separate units. As you can read, they were allowed to split up in the middle of the game so the heavy weapon could lay down supporting fire without having to close for close assault with the rest of the squad. Yet another reason why old GW rulesets like 2E, which fatuous morons like Goonhammer like to deride, were superior to the dumbed down, short attention span, Chutes-and-Ladders style kidsgames GW peddles today.
I have owned 2E Codex: Imperial Guard for years, but never noticed this passage before, so I thank J.P. for his valuable service in pointing it out.
The two units should be able to regroup after the close assault.