Voltigeurs were introduced as the companies meant for skirmishing in battle. Its companies became the "light infantry", which had always been in the vanguard and in the line of skirmishers. The introduction of voltigeurs can also be explained by the fact that Napoleon wanted to encourage brave soldiers who couldn't be enrolled in the grenadier or carabineer companies owing to their low stature. If the notion of "grenadier" had always been associated with a tall soldier, courageous in bayonet fighting, a "voltigeur" was a synonym for a small, but fearless soldier in the front under fierce fire of the enemy.