Napoleon needed to reform the Grande Armée to defend his empire and, upon reaching the Duchy of Warsaw, he left the remnants of his army and returned to France.

[1] While Napoleon could fill infantry units rapidly with conscripts, the cavalry had suffered huge losses of men and horses in Russia, and took longer to raise, as it took considerable time to train men to ride and fight on horseback and Napoleon had few experienced non-commissioned officers (NCOs) to use as trainers since most had been promoted to fill officer vacancies.

He had previously attempted to attract such men into his army, forming the Gendarmerie d'ordonnance de la Garde impériale [fr] in 1806.

Forming another such unit in 1813 would also provide Napoleon with a pool of potentially valuable hostages from well-placed families, important at a time when his power was threatened by the defeat in Russia.

The men were required to be citizens of the 130 departments of the First French Empire, which included territories now belonging to Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium as well as Metropolitan France.

Many of the members had royalist or foreign backgrounds and were often keenly aware of their position as de facto hostages of Napoleon.

Advancing to the battle through a forest in company with the Imperial Guard cavalry they suffered casualties from artillery fire.

However when this charge got into difficulty the 3rd Guards of Honour, numbering around 400 men, was ordered into the fray by General Rémy Joseph Isidore Exelmans.

Despite being exhausted by early manoeuvring and having gone 24 hours without food, the regiment saved the Mounted Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard who were being driven back.

By December morale in the unit remained high, though it was notably lower among the Dutch, Italian and German members.

[8][4] After the abdication of Napoleon part of the Guards of Honour provided the escort for the entry of the restored king Louis XVIII to Paris.