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In Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising, Tarkus, the tactical sergeant in the campaign, said this when asked if what he had done was in the Codex Astartes, he replied with something along the lines of:
"The Tactical Squad will draw fire, allowing the Devastator Squad to take a better position." (Note: Not exact quote, but close)

So, my question is:
How good is this when translated into the tabletop? Is the Codex Astartes right or is this just not possible in an actual game?

This doesnt apply that much on the tabletop. Sacrificing a scoring Tac marine squad to give a dev squad a better LOS is more than likely going to be a bad move in most games.

However, bait units are a sound idea for certain forces.

Sound tactic for armies with expendable units (Guard, Orks, Tyranids)... anything where the standard infantrymen are cheap and plentiful. Many Guard players would advise me to be willing to draw their fire with an infantry squad so my heavier guns can grab the actual objective (take out a key target, grab an objective, take a different position)

But with Marines? Your typical 10-man tactical squad is going to run you ~170 points (depending on gear), as opposed to a Guard's Infantry Squad of 60 points.

You can't afford to toss away units in a small elite army like Marines.

It's also bad advice because you don't have AI that insists on shooting the closest thing. For example, an IG player will just ignore the tactical squad and drop a Basilisk shell on the devastators.

 Peregrine wrote:
It's also bad advice because you don't have AI that insists on shooting the closest thing. For example, an IG player will just ignore the tactical squad and drop a Basilisk shell on the devastators.

This is especially true since we don't have to test for target priority anymore.

Actually it's perfectly sound advice for a codex marine player.

You simply make it so shooting/attacking the tactical squad is better for the enemy, in doing so you protect your devastator team from fire and assault, then with the usage of combat tactics the marines forcibly run, allowing the devastators to get hits in next round.

Besides, odds are your tactical squad is moving forward more than your dev team.

I would figure the TAC squad is moving to position themselves to take objectives after/while heavy hitters are killing the opposition. Dev supports TAC more I think.