The Holland Army consisted of eight regiments of the line infantry
before joining the French army. Their numbers were started from the 2nd
and were ended by the 9th.
We mostly consider the parts of the army of the Kingdom of the Netherlands till its accession to the French Empire.
In 1810, the Holland army in their full force joined the French army and has expanded it, organizing the new shelves in almost all kinds of regiments. So the Holland line infantry regiments, with the exception of the 4th, formed 4 regiments of the line infantry and received the Grand Army of the serial numbers from the 123rd to the 126th.
There was also organized the 33rd Regiment of Light Infantry from huntsman’s Regiment of the Kingdom.
Old Zealand Regiment (Zeeland Regiment) was reorganized into Texel
Regiment (Texel Regiment) consisting of four battalions with six
companies in each. There were 140 people.
The 4th Regiment of Line Infantry became a Regiment of the Walcheren
Island. In 1811, the Regiment of the island of Walcheren was organized
in the 131st Regiment of the French line infantry.
All the regiments of the Kingdom of the Netherlands that were transferred to the French infantry have not received the new uniform and fought during the Russian campaign wearing the old uniform of the Holland army.
It is most likely, that the new French uniform with buttons of new regiments have been received by only the elite company and the first battalions of these regiments. This assumption is supported by very few findings of buttons and other parts of uniforms with numbers 123-126.
If to compare a small number of findings to the numbers of new regiments, the buttons that are attributable to the Royal Holland regiments are more often come across on the road of retreat and the places of local battles of the Great Army.
For example, in front of the village Studenka near the town of Old Borisov, there were found the buttons of different regiments of the Royal Netherlands. And there was also a shako sign in the form of diamond. This sign showed the number 125 that was inscribed in huntsman’s horn.
This shako sign belonged to an elite soldier of voltizhersky company of the 125th regiment of the line infantry. In Stahovsky forest the buttons of the 3rd Regiment and the 5th Infantry Regiment of the Netherlands often come across.
On the field that is located in front of crossing of the Berezina, there were found large and small Uniform’s buttons of penalty Regiment of the island of Walcheren.
The main part of all buttons with the numbers 123-126 is found on the road of retreating from Maladechno and Vilna to Kovno. It is most likely that the new recruits who were marching to reinforce for their regiments and who had already received the new uniform "left" their buttons with their uniforms, and forever remain near the fires on the road to Maladzechna.
The Guard Grenadiers Regiment consisting of 2 battalions with 4 companies in each became the third regiment of the Imperial Guard of the French Empire.
