Guard duty against deserters was assigned to sapper regiments

Evidence

In another way of increasing their surveillance and tightening their control the authorities appointed special guards to prevent the new conscripts from escaping on their way to the conscripting depots. Bedouins were also asked to hand in any deserter to the authorities. Eventually this task was given specifically to special forces, the baltaci ortas, i.e. the sappers’ regiments, whose earlier tasks had included guarding the corvée laborers working to clear the Maḥmūdiyya canal. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 482

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• DEFINE: Defines ‘baltaci ortas’ as sapper regiments and notes their prior role guarding canal labor.