Desertion rates fluctuated between ten and twenty-five percent of Egyptian regiments

Evidence

In spite of all these orders and decrees, in spite of the heavy surveillance that they were under, and in spite of the drastic punishments inflicted upon those who were caught, the fellahin were deserting in a steady stream and nothing that the authorities did was effective in stopping them from doing so. During the early years of the Syrian campaign it was difficult to know exactly how many men went missing from their units at any one time; the roll-calls gave estimates as low as 10 percent and as high as 25 percent of the size of any one regiment. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1349