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The Yellow Cruise : 1931-1932
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Yellow Cruise Poster
From 1928, Georges-Marie Haardt dreamt of opening up the "Silk Road" to cars, i.e. the legendary corridor through which commercial trade was handled between China, Persia, Arabia and Europe. Enthusiastic as ever, André Citroën decided to finance the project which, given its sheer scale, was to demand several years of preparation and reconnoitring.
Just imagine : 30,000 km from Beirut to Beijing, driving through Russian Turkestan, Sinkiang and the Gobi desert up to the Yellow River. As time passed, political uncertainty, firstly in the USSR then in Afghanistan, led the expedition leaders, Haardt, Audoin and Point, to change the itinerary, and forced the team to cross Kashmir (5,000 m above sea-level).
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Col of Bourzil
It also led to the idea of splitting the expedition into two groups to increase the chances of success. One was to leave from Beirut and attempt to climb through the Himalayas (the Pamir group), and the other, setting out from Tien Tsin, would come and meet it (the China group). After many trials and tribulations, political or otherwise, and some truly exciting moments, the Pamir group of 24 people, equipped with 6 Citroën Kegresse P17s especially fitted to cope with the extreme cold, made it to Aksu on October 8, 1931. The China group, which had been joined by Father Teilhard de Chardin, had been waiting there for several days.
Its members, too, had experienced some hair-raising adventures in a strife-torn country, and were even taken hostage by a war-lord for 3 months. The two groups then set out together on the road to Beijing, where they arrived on February 12, 1932. The diplomatic quarter gave them a rousing reception. Unfortunately, Haardt was never to return to France : exhausted, he went down with the 'flu and died in Hong Kong on March 15, 1932. His legend lives on!