The Red Tide

Hi. Could somebody explain me how "the red tide" works? For testing purposes I turned on this ability and charged enemy machine gun with "Strafniye Troops". The casualties taken were not compensated in any way, despite what the description of The Red Tide is.
Thx.

The ability grants new squads not individual soldiers iirc. You need to lost the entire squad before the ability worns off. Replaced squads are spawn from the HQ or the call-in entry points.

You  can activate it when you have one soldier left.

When you know you are going to take heavy losses squad wise, it's best you activate it. If I'm doing a quick base rush or trying to obliterate the enemy out of an area, that's the time I use it. Most of the time an MG + Mortar + Inf will eat your squads up, and if you have Red Tide activated it compensates and replaces them at no cost, which is why it's a very powerful ability.

I see now. I seems that a squad has to be completely destroyed to be reborn. Thanks all.