voltigeurs

Voltigeurs (Fr.: voltigeurs, vaulters) were a type of French light infantry soldier. In the second half of the 18th century there had been various experiments with light infantry, and during the French Revolutionary wars the French made good use of swarms of light infantry tirailleurs moving ahead of heavy columns. Like most European infantry, French line infantry battalions had two élite flank companies, one each of grenadiers and voltigeurs as well as a number of centre companies. Light infantry also had flank companies, though their grenadiers were known as carabiniers. There were full regiments of voltigeurs in Napoleon's Young Guard, their soldiers hoping for promotion into the chasseurs of the Middle or Old Guard.

Commanding officers tried to select lithe, nimble men as voltigeurs, and might use them to screen the unit's front as it advanced or to skirmish in front of its line. They wore yellow embellishments, and both they and the grenadiers had fringes to their epaulettes. The French army retained voltigeurs until the abolition of flank companies in 1868, though by then the distinction between them and the centre companies was honorific rather than tactical.

— Richard Holmes