La Croisière Noire, 1926

La Croisière Noire (Black Journey), the 70 minute movie made in 1926 by Léon Poirier, documents the Citroën Kégresse expedition in Africa in 1924-1925. I have already talked about these expeditions in my previous post, where I focused on the trip across Asia from 1931-1932.

Citroën organized two African expeditions. The first one, in December 1922 - January 1923, crossed Sahara from Touggourt in Algeria to Timbuktu in Mali. The second expedition (from October 1924 to June 1925) - the subject of the movie - was much more ambitious: the whole Africa was traversed from North to South and then to the East coast in Madagascar. It started in Algeria, heading South to Niamey and East to Lake Tchad, then South-East into the Congo basin to Lake Albert. The team split then in four groups for Mombasa, Dar Es Salaam, Capetown and Mozambique, all reuniting in Madagascar.


The lead of these expeditions was the general manager from Citroën, Georges-Marie Haardt who authored a book about the second African trip (The Black Journey: Across Central Africa with the Citroën Expedition).

I found on youTube a documentary produced for ARTE in 2006: En Avant, Toute ! Autour du Monde en Citroën (with the English title Half-Track Heroes - The Crusades of André Citroën). This is a montage that uses the footage from the original movies made on the African and Asian expeditions. The authors are the Germans Christian Schidlowski and Peter Bardehle. It was published on youTube by the enthusiasts from the Zagreb Citroën Klub.



So, it is a very long story, started by 1910 in St. Petersburg, where the Kégresse track was invented, continued in the twenties and thirties in Africa and Asia with the great Citroën expeditions, opening car routes across Sahara and on the Silk Road, immortalized in the two movies that were rediscovered by Jack Goelman in the fifties, then by the two German directors that created the documentary for ARTE in 2006, and finally published on youTube by the passionate Zagrebians from the Citroën Klub.

Finally? This story is going on.

Here is the documentary from ARTE. I dedicate this post to Jack, my great friend from New York who made me know about Georges-Marie Haardt, the Citroën Kégresse half-tracks and their formidable expeditions.

Half-Track Heroes - The Crusades of André Citroën
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(video by retro5s5)

Half-Track Heroes - The Crusades of André Citroën
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Half-Track Heroes - The Crusades of André Citroën
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(video by retro5s5)

Half-Track Heroes - The Crusades of André Citroën
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(video by retro5s5)

Half-Track Heroes - The Crusades of André Citroën
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(video by retro5s5)

Half-Track Heroes - The Crusades of André Citroën
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(video by retro5s5)

(Jack Goelman)

(Cinéma Français)