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Crossing the Sahara : 1922-1923
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Crossing the Sahara
Starting out from Touggourt (Algeria), Georges-Marie Haardt, Louis Audoin-Dubreuil and a team of 10 people, including several army officers and a geographer, made it to Timbuktu (Sudan) in 20 days. But what was it exactly that made these men set out to conquer a region considered to be one of the world's most inhospitable ?
It was quite simply a great idea. After World War I, the plan for a safe and quick link between mainland France and Equatorial Africa appealed to colonial settlers and industrialists alike, and met with a favourable reception in military and scientific circles. A great idea which the car at long last was to make possible. Trusting his equipment, André Citroën was convinced that the link could be made within 20 days, and history was to prove him right.
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With 5 Citroën Kégresse tracked vehicles, members of the "Haardt-Audouin" mission completed the first direct link between Algeria and French West Africa. With much pomp and ceremony, the first trans-saharan mail delivered by car was handed to Colonel Mangeot, commander of the region of Timbuktu, on January 7, 1923.
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Audoin-Dubreuil and Penaud
Background
When crossing into the Sudan, just before Tabankor, an incident occurred that was so strange as to leave its mark on all members of the Haardt and Audoin expedition. Seeing that the last two cars in the convoy were having problems keeping up, a rocket was fired to signal the position of the leading half-tracks. Amazingly, when the flare fell to ground, it started a fire in a patch of parched grass. No-one was able to put it out.
The fire spread, forcing the drivers to move on to avoid being trapped by the flames. The savannah turned red, starting a stampede of animals that until then had been invisible. The five vehicles came through unscathed and continued on their triumphant drive to Timbuktu.
Did you know ?
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Stages' list
... that each of the 5 vehicles in the expedition had a name ?
"Golden Beetle", "Silver Crescent", "Flying Tortoise", "Ox of Apis" and "Crawling Caterpillar"... great explorers also have great imagination.
... how they came up with the idea of caterpillar tracks used for the expedition's cars ?
From January 1921 onward, the Citroën plants were producing a new type of vehicle equipped with endless rubber treads allowing them to drive off-road over a various forms of terrain. This brilliant invention was the brainchild of a talented engineer called Adolphe Kégresse. During a demonstration in the presence of André Citroën, the marque's founding father was taken by the idea of producing vehicles capable of moving over unstable terrain and of doing 40 to 45 kph on roads ; he instantly realized the full importance of the invention. We all know how far tracked vehicles have come since.