Uniform and Musket of a Voltigeur of the Imperial Guard from the French Empire dated between 1812-1815 on display at the Musée de l’Armée in Paris
Formed from the
Tirailleurs-Chasseurs and Conscrit-Chasseurs regiments of Young Guard, the Voltigeurs (vaulters or leapers) provided a skirmishing screen for the Imperial Guard of the Grande Armée.
During the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 the Voltigeurs defended the village of Plancenoit against the flanking Prussian attack under
Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. After three assaults upon the village the Imperial Guard overwhelmed and almost annihilated by the Prussian Army.
Photographs taken by myself