Marching armies faced the highest desertion risk, so surveillance intensified on the road.

Evidence

This attempt to control the presences of the soldiers and their equipment is further shown in the regulations ordering the march of the army from one camp to the other or, more importantly, to battle. It was during such marches that the danger of desertion was at its highest, probably because of the belief among soldiers that since the army was on the move, they were no longer as vigilantly watched as when the army was in its barracks or on the camps. To counter this feeling a strict surveillance regime was enforced. The position of every soldier and officer had to be known during the march and the army ammunition, horses and equipment had to be accounted for. At the end of the day a report had to be written recording in detail the events of the day (vukuat). A typical “yol curnal” (lit.: “Report of the Road”) would begin with the dates of the start and end of the march. Then it would give details of the number of transport animals, usually camels, that the army used and how many of these were hired from the bedouins and how many owned by the government. The report would then give details about who was heading the march and which battalion functioned as the vanguard. Then there would be specific details of how the march itself conformed to the regulations. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 717