The following year, war continued on French soil and began very badly, with the French army outnumbered and in very bad shape. The Guard cavalry, under Nansouty, was thus called into action more often than ever, combating valiantly and often playing an instrumental role in Napoleon's attempts to frustrate Coalition plans. Together with other regiments of the Guards, the Grenadiers fought against overwhelming enemy numbers at La Rothière and nine days later broke several Russian infantry squares from General Zakhar Olsufiev's force. At the Battle of Montmirail, the Grenadiers annihilated two Russian brigades and at the Battle of Château-Thierry successfully charged Coalition artillery batteries and two days later helped rout Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher's army at the Battle of Vauchamps. They were then involved in several actions, including major ones at Reims and Craonne, where they routed several enemy squares. During this battle, the commander ("major") of the Grenadiers, General Lévesque de Laferrière was wounded by a bullet and had a leg torn off and also lost one of its best officers, Captain Kister. Their last action of the campaign was fought at Méry-sur-Seine, where they captured a team of pontooners belonging to the enemy "Army of Bohemia".