Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
11 - The Citroën Expeditions, part 2
18 Plays25 days ago
The complete success of La Croisière Noire leads André Citroën to attempt the genuinely insane, a full expedition from Beirut to Peking.
For the list of sources, please go to www.thewonderkamer.ca
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Previous Episode Recap
00:00:24
Speaker
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Wonder Camera. This is your podcast in which three dilettantes open up our cabinet of curiosities and tell you a fascinating tale. My name is Jen Rempel.
00:00:35
Speaker
I'm here with Dave Powell and Tracy Anderson Powell. Today we're going to listen to part two of Tracy's tale of the motor vehicle races that happened in the early part of the 20th century and the fascinating tricks that ensued. Yeah. So in the last episode, we talked about the Citroen car company that s sent men across the desert and then across Africa in cars with caterpillar tracks.
Planning the Citroen Expeditions
00:01:00
Speaker
In this episode, we're going to look at the third and fourth expeditions. And those two, the first two expeditions went surprisingly well. Yeah, they did. They were successful. I think as Jen mentioned, I don't think we've ever heard a podcast where somebody goes on an audacious trip into a you know, through the center of Africa or other very difficult terrain. And then it just kind of goes fine. Yeah. And it's fact like just a great accomplishment, ignoring all the horrors of colonialism, which is hard to do, comma, still incredible.
00:01:34
Speaker
Yes. Just looking at it as an expedition, both successful. So parts three and four, I'm super curious to hear what happens if we have more disasters afoot or or actually any disasters. guess we'll find out. We will indeed.
Mongol Rally and 'Wonder Camera' Road Trip Discussion
00:01:48
Speaker
So planning the next expedition started almost as soon as everyone returned to Paris from Madagascar. This one should be the ultimate test of man and machine. It should be the last great challenge of land travel, coast to coast to across Asia from west to east. So far, such an adventure hadn't been tackled by the automobile.
00:02:07
Speaker
It's pretty long, and the automobile's pretty new. This is, I think, predating the Mongol Rally, so let's go. Yeah, it is. Do you know the Mongol Rally, Jen? I have not. It's something Tracy and I fantasized about doing ah for a little while. What you do is you get a beater. So you have to get a car that is below a certain price point. And we're talking a few thousand dollars.
00:02:29
Speaker
And you drive it from Western Europe to Mongolia. Holy. You guys do that? I'm joining you. Excellent. Honestly, Wonder Camera road trip. We talked about this before. We need to do a Wonder Camera road trip. You you know, we we'll get a caterer and a cinematographer like they had on their. We'll do a live show to a baffled ah Irish pub in Tashkent. It'll be great.
Andre Citroen's Vision and Ideals
00:02:54
Speaker
don' be amazing. would be wonderful. What are you doing? You were not invited here. We'll just set it up. We'll just bring out microphones and amplifiers and we'll just start'll just start recording.
00:03:06
Speaker
yeah Yeah, we'll do live. it It'll be like a flash podcast instead of a flash mob. ah but Where we just set up in the Gobi Desert. I'm in. and the key thing here is Jen has actually been to Central Asia, which would help significantly because Lord knows I haven't.
00:03:22
Speaker
Hey, look, if you want to get around Astana, Kazakhstan, I can hook you up. sort Beautiful. All right. Now that we have dreams of the Wonder Camera road trip, ah we can continue on with ah the road trip for Andrei Citroen. Citroen. How do you pronounce this name? Do it slow for us.
00:03:43
Speaker
Citroen. Okay. Citroen. Johnny Lemon. Yes. Citroen. Citroen. Yeah. Citroen. I like it. Citroën. Yep. So in the words of Andre Citroën, might it not be possible to rediscover the traces of the ancient Silk Road followed in the 7th century by Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang and in the 13th century by the great explorer Marco Polo and to reopen for traffic that main trade route along which passed of old the commerce between China, Persia, Arabia, and Europe? And might not the motor car of the future play a great part in bringing together those peoples who as of yet were strangers? Pretty optimistic. i
00:04:26
Speaker
The motor vehicle people as fostering community and understanding. this These were earlier, more idyllic days before we realized that cars did the exact opposite.
Central Asian Expedition Challenges
00:04:36
Speaker
Yes. yeah Yeah. It actually fostered great atomization. And also, you know, before i get the kind of the world twig to the fact that almost all except for Sidroen, car manufacturers were fascists. Yes. The one non-fascist car manufacturer. Yeah. Yeah. He has great ideals, you know, it allows travel. Yeah, that's true. You know what? Yeah, he is absolutely an idealist.
00:05:01
Speaker
ah You know what? ah If we're going to compare him to Renault or Ford, I'll take Johnny Lemon here. His name is Andre. Andrew Lemon. Yeah, but it's not like there's a French equivalent of Johnny. Don't look that up. The name Jean does not exist. Jean-Y? Jean-Y?
00:05:20
Speaker
Jean-Y Lémon? I don't know I did him right. Just using a French accent there, basically. No, it'd be Jean Citroën. Citroën? C'est bon? but It's Citroën. We just went over this. It actually started out as Citroën and he added the accent over the E, the diuresis.
00:05:39
Speaker
Oh, yeah okay. yeah I realized that because I'm like, i I've taken years of terrible Albertan French lessons and cannot speak more than a couple of words, but I don't think we ever pronounced lemon as Citroën. So he put the emphasis on a different syllable to be fancy. Yeah.
00:05:56
Speaker
So what he did was that accent, the two dots over the e means that you pronounce it separately from the vowel that comes before it. So instead of citro citron, it's citroen.
00:06:07
Speaker
But he's still trying to be fancy for its own sake. Yeah, i guess Or it's indicating pronunciation, but it's still, the umlauts are always considered pretty fancy, yeah? Well, it's like me changing my name to Dov. Please do it. I was just thinking I should put umlauts in my last name, but then it wouldn't make any sense because it would Rem-Pel. Two umlauts. Oh, no, all three E's. Jan-I-F-E-R-R-E-M-P-E-L. That's how you pronounce it. Put the umlauts over the continent. Just fuck with those people. That's right. I don't know who those people are, but, you know, the umlaut fans who demand proper use proper use of accents. That's right.
00:06:43
Speaker
Anyway, but we've had our fun with this man's last name. Five years later, Georges-Marie Hart, Louis Audouin Dubry, and other veterans of the Croziers Noirs left France in March 1931 as part of the Citroën Central Asian Expedition, or the Croziers Jeunes.
00:07:04
Speaker
Yeah. What's Croziers? Cruz. Why are they calling it the Yellow Expedition? That is never explained in any of the books that I've read.
00:07:17
Speaker
red And your books were of the time and extremely racist. So so either it goes without saying, but there's the black. Actually, one of the books is surprisingly not racist.
00:07:28
Speaker
Oh, that's nice. When was it written? 1935. Oh, shit. oh shit That's incredible. That is the most progressive book written at the time. And that includes ah many communist tracts. ah so It's the book that was commissioned to be written about the the trek. So it was originally published in French and then Sir Ernest Swinton translated it into English and it was published in 1935.
00:07:54
Speaker
Oh, fantastic. And, uh, but all right. So, uh, yeah. Okay. I'll just leave off the yellow expedition, ominous name and we'll continue on like that. We'll just make that face. Just cringe inside. I'm pulling up my collar for, uh, yep.
Progress and Setbacks in Diverse Terrains
00:08:14
Speaker
Those on audio, which is everybody, because this is not a video podcast. yeah Their aim was the first ever motorized crossing of Central Asia. It was to be, quote, a bold new mission of geographic and scientific exploration.
00:08:29
Speaker
The plan was to cover 8,000 miles, nearly 13,000 kilometers from the Mediterranean to the South China Sea in nine months. This third expo... Oh, sorry, go ahead. They're beginning in which city?
00:08:42
Speaker
Beirut. in terms They're beginning in Beirut. Yes. Okay. And the goal is to get to Peking. And then from there, they go to Shanghai and Hong Kong. And then after that, down into French Indochina.
00:08:55
Speaker
And again, Jen and I, Tracy's a geography nerd, too, but we've all got maps in our brain right now trying to figure out where the line goes. But I think Tracy's going to tell us that. Oh, I mean, makes sense.
00:09:07
Speaker
Well, I mean, does it go like, you know, are we going through Russia where are the train's a lot easier? Are we going directly through the mountains? Yeah, exactly. Are they doing it hardcore mode or not? Yeah, because the Himalayas versus the steppes, like the two most opposite routes you could consider, which you'd think the steppes, but yeah. Either way, somebody is throwing a goat at you. Yep. Probably.
00:09:29
Speaker
What's that name of that sport where the literal translation is goat bashing? Oh, isn't that from Afghanistan? It's it's huge in Afghanistan, but in Central Asia in general. And it's like polo with a dead goat.
00:09:42
Speaker
And it's one of the coolest, most hardcore sports ever. The future podcast episode is I'll ah talk about um sports that we might not be aware of in North America because it's cool, right? ah So the yeah throwing a dead goat, at you wouldn't throw a dead goat. You'd actually take the dead goat from you and then race across the finish line. So anyways... I'm imagining rugby with a dead goat now. Yeah, except they're all on horseback. forgot about that. Yeah. Yeah.
00:10:09
Speaker
Yeah, I remember those pictures. I would be fascinated to learn more about that for sure. Yeah, definitely. There's a ah future podcast episode. Wonderful. I'll throw it in the trailer and never make it. Yeah, that's right.
00:10:21
Speaker
This third expedition was to further the cause of science, art, and economics. They were encouraged by the ministers of foreign affairs, of the colonies, and of posts and telegraphs, who also lent aid in facilitating the obtaining of permission to enter Asian countries.
00:10:36
Speaker
The expedition was sponsored and supported by the French government, the Geographical Society, the National History Museum, the National Geographic Society of America, and Pathé Natan, a newsreel company that planned to make a film about it.
00:10:50
Speaker
oo The whole expedition took three years to organize and prepare. They had to reconnoiter the route, get all the necessary travel documentation, and establish supply bases for fuel and spare parts.
00:11:01
Speaker
The journey was to be a crusade, says Lefebvre in An Eastern Odyssey. o That sounds kind of racist. Yeah, it does. I think his his definition of crusade and ours is slightly different.
00:11:14
Speaker
Yes. Yeah. So he goes on to say, in which scientists, artists, and technical expert would take part with the machine as their servant. And then he tried to shout Deus volt, but was tackled from behind.
00:11:25
Speaker
Yes. That's good. As he should be. What what year was this? 1935? 1931. You know? No, 1931. Nonetheless, the early 30s, as we know, everything everything's fine. Anyways.
00:11:37
Speaker
Oh, yeah. I'm going along the road there. That's problem. Settle down there, Hegseth. Yeah. The plan at first looked like this. Leaving the Mediterranean shore of Asia, the route was to skirt the south of the Caspian Sea to Ashkabat through Russian Turkestan to Sinkiang, then crossing the Gobi Desert as far as the Yellow River, on to Kalgan and Peking, and then finally south to Saigon.
00:12:01
Speaker
They'd need permission from the Soviet Union for this route, who was not averse to the expedition, but did feel the need to veto passage through Russian Turkestan. The Soviets suggested a more northerly route through Astrakhan, Akmalinsk, and Semipalatinsk to the Chinese frontier at Bakhti.
00:12:18
Speaker
There was no objection to the expedition's scientific equipment, which included a cinematographer camera and wireless set, provided the latter were operated by Russians. Plus, the Soviets met maintained it was not necessary for the French to carry arms. The Soviet government would hold itself responsible for their safety. Seems reasonable.
00:12:37
Speaker
What was the reason for this? yeah That's right. when what What was the reason for the Turkmenistan? was Were there military operations there? or There's no reason that's given. Interesting.
00:12:49
Speaker
They were always weird about Turkmenistan, though, which is weird to this day. So maybe it's just... This Russian Turkestan, and I've used the old names, the names that they were at the time, because trying to find the modern equivalent was just doing my head in. What we might do as a fun little project is put up a little map in the show notes through the modern terrain, because, yeah, we're...
00:13:17
Speaker
I know some of these. And so Russian Turkestan and Turkmenistan are not going to have identical borders. Or Russian Turkestan might, I don't know, be in Uzbekistan, but there's not a lot of Turks there. Yeah, it may be several countries because there's a Russian Turkestan and there's a Chinese Turkestan.
00:13:34
Speaker
Oh, boy. Yeah. So it gets a little ah little messy. This is why Turkish nationalists claim the entire planet except for... ah like the area the Kurds live in, in Armenians as Turkic peoples.
00:13:48
Speaker
Everyone else is Turkic. Yeah. Same with, yeah. Yeah. Kazakhstan as well. yeah Yeah. Yeah. Turkic language. So it's like, yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There we go. Exactly.
00:13:59
Speaker
But it sounds like they're kind of skipping into the steps because if my understanding is correct, Semih Pelotinsk is right north of Kazakhstan, ah right on ah near the border, if i recall correctly. So I think it's going around and like through the steps. But anyway, that would be a little bit easier or skipping some of the mountains.
00:14:16
Speaker
Yeah. In the southern area. So that could be why. Anyway, I don't know. just Oh, yeah. Russian Turkestan is a lot bigger than modern Turkmenistan. It extends much farther east. Okay. Oh, okay. Public opinion in China was opposed to exploration by foreigners. It was felt that the object of foreigners wandering about in the desert was to look for minerals and oil and would despoil China of her natural wealth. The scientific motive for exploration was also suspect because if there was something there, China assuredly would have found it already.
00:14:46
Speaker
You know what? I don't blame him. No, I, yeah look, you can't trust, look at the whole opium wars. Like they, they, like you can't trust. I mean, have you seen what these assholes have done? No, we can't be trusted. I'm sorry. as well right And the scientific exploration thing is really interesting because we're going to go through Asia and bring science there. Like what? Yeah. Well, yeah, that too. First of all, no, they're not bringing science there. Science is already there and they're aware of this. They're bringing their own scientists to look at archaeology and different plant species and that sort of thing. Like in the previous expeditions where they brought back samples of things they hadn't seen before. Mm-hmm.
00:15:34
Speaker
So they're not bringing science. Yeah, it's a corollary to the colonial project in that it's, oh, it's fascinating. All these scientists and researchers find these all these things unknown to us, but also look at what we can exploit. So think in China, they're not wrong.
00:15:50
Speaker
No, frankly no. And at the same time, being the first European to document a palace cat sounds kind of fun because palace cats are delightful. So I get it.
00:16:03
Speaker
That's true. Or medals, as they're called. Hart selected the young naval officer, Lieutenant Victor Point, to act as emissary. He had commanded a gunboat on the upper Yangtze for two years, including the period of communist rebellion. He was young, not quite 30, but Hart still thought him the best man for the job.
00:16:22
Speaker
Obstacles were placed in the way by the Federation of Chinese Scientific Studies, the FCSS. They were considered rabidly xenophobic and more political than scientific, but still their sanction was needed.
00:16:34
Speaker
Point acted quickly and gained the support of the French minister to China. He then succeeded in getting a promise from the FCSS that a committee would be appointed to look at the project. Two weeks later, the committee produced a 14-point draft agreement. The expedition was to have both a French and Chinese director. It would consist of Chinese members nominated by the FCSS and French members who would also be approved by the FCSS.
00:16:59
Speaker
Anything that might directly or indirectly affect the national defense or sovereignty of China was forbidden. No surveying, no extensive archaeological excavations, and a member of the Chinese general staff was to supervise any filming.
00:17:13
Speaker
Protesting was useless. But again, it's their country. like yeah just when The Communist Revolution was very recent, too. For China. So they're still establishing, you know, sovereignty and cultural changes and whatnot at the time. So yeah, they're gonna be pretty strict about that kind of thing. Which again, I don't find unreasonable. No. The time period we're in.
00:17:33
Speaker
No, not at all. The Federation. of The white man, frankly. yeah Yeah. China's going through some shit at this point.
Detours and Cultural Interactions
00:17:41
Speaker
Go on. The Federation ended up voting in favor of the great Sino-French expedition of the 19th year.
00:17:48
Speaker
All that was needed then was authorization from the Chinese government in Nanking. When Chiang Kai-shek was approached about it, he was mainly concerned with what the FCSS thought. After reflection, he instructed the Minister of Communications to give the French delegate a favorable reception.
00:18:04
Speaker
And with everything... for the revolution Or it's ongoing. They're mid-civil war at this point. That's right. Okay, yeah, that's right. Yeah. The revolution is ongoing because it took a very, very long time.
00:18:16
Speaker
Like the ah PRC was came up out in the mid to late 40s. That's right. Okay. Good to have that reminder. Thanks. So this is interesting. Yeah. So even more turmoil than I originally thought.
00:18:29
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And with everything seeming to be successful so far, Point returned to Peking, where he and Vladimir Petropavlovsky, known as Petro, were busy working out routes for a third group.
00:18:41
Speaker
This group would set up a chain of supply bases for the two main convoys. Going 6,000 miles, or 9,700 kilometers, across China was an expedition on its own. Petra was a white Russian, multilingual, and a civil engineer. He was born in Russia but lived the last 12 years in China. His skills, familiarity with Chinese culture and language... would be invaluable for preparations and the journey. Later on in his life, he took British citizenship, joined the British Army, and became sort of a James Bond figure in the world of espionage.
00:19:11
Speaker
Damn, he can be an episode. Yeah, he could. Yeah, that sounds like a hell of a guy. I tried to find out more about him, and I can't. I couldn't find hardly anything. That's too bad. Yeah. There are some people where I'm like, oh, that'd be a cool episode. But I'm like, would be five minutes long. Right. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
00:19:28
Speaker
We need to collect those and make one giant episode of like five minutes. Yes. Open the the junk, the Wonder Cameras drunk junk drawer. Junk drawer. Yeah. There we go. We'll call the junk drawer. Hell yeah. In a way.
00:19:43
Speaker
I like it. We'll keep that in mind. Now, the authority granted by Nanking was considered a moral and indispensable asset, but would it have any real value in Sien-Kiang? Sien-Kiang was a province as large as France, 2,000 miles, 3,200 kilometers away and surrounded by deserts. Since the Chinese Revolution, the Governor-General of Xinjiang, Marshal King, became the absolute master of the province. No one could enter without his permission.
00:20:09
Speaker
Point telegraphed him, explaining the expedition and its aims, flattered him, and begged him for a permit to enter the province. Forty-five days later, Marshal King's response was telegraphed to Peking.
00:20:21
Speaker
It would seem the flattery worked. What did he give him a FIFA Peace Prize trophy? That or some kind of orb. and They just immediately invaded Uzbekistan after getting that trophy, though.
00:20:34
Speaker
Yep. but yeah yep Instructions would be given at all frontier stations to let the illustrious French travelers pass. He offered even to exchange silver dollars for local currency at a rate of two paper lands for one silver dollar. The exchange rate at the time was 3.6 lands for one silver dollar.
00:20:52
Speaker
I'm not a mathematician, but that's better. Yeah, I've yes been trying to figure that out. I'm pretty sure it's better. That's a good deal. yeah Yeah, because you used to give three for a silver dollar, but you're giving a better exchange rate of two for a silver dollar. That's right. yeah So that's nice of them.
00:21:10
Speaker
Since Hart planned on bringing seven cars and a wireless set, Marshall King imagined it would be easy for Hart to bring three additional cars and wireless sets, which would be paid for on arrival at Urumqi.
00:21:21
Speaker
A wireless. Now I'm picturing gramophone, unfortunately. So I'm thinking of what a wireless set. How big is that going to be? ah Is it like a a radio? Yeah, it's a radio, but it's I think it's it's on the bigger side, but it's not anything that like two people couldn't carry. okay now I could be totally wrong about that, but it sounds good.
00:21:47
Speaker
Yeah, that sounds about right. At the same time, Hart was working to enlist the backing of the British and Indian governments and collecting information on Central Asia. He found that everyone he talked to from the Foreign Office, the War Office, the India Office, and the Air Ministry was delighted to help in any way they could. They supplied maps, records, and reports.
00:22:07
Speaker
Cables and letters were dispatched on behalf of the expedition to India and official channels of communication to the British Consul General at Kashgar. and two English missionaries in Xinjiang at his disposal.
00:22:19
Speaker
All right. Sounds like they're getting everything set up. It's coming along. I was thinking for our road trip, we get it we better get planning now because it's going be challenging. I was just thinking it might have been easier to do this back then than it would be now in terms of the visa regimens. Oh, we yeah. We could not drive through Russia now. No, not at all. No. No.
00:22:38
Speaker
No, getting visas is ah very complicated. And as my mom has always said, the crummier the country, the more expensive the visa. Yep, that's True. and Russia, you couldn't even get one. And I think if you did, you wouldn't even be able to. look You can't use all banking. Foreign banking is sanctioned. So you bring a big suitcase full of money with you if you went there right now. Yeah, that sounds safe.
00:23:02
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. So, yeah, what we'll we we'll do a practice run across Canada. Okay. There we go. and ah And when we do this properly, we'll go through safer areas like Afghanistan.
00:23:15
Speaker
That's right. Yeah. yeah that's Yeah. Much safer. Yeah. it'll be yeah yeah Easy. Easy peasy. just skip Russia. So a new plan was made. They split the expedition into two groups. The first, the Pamir group, was to be led by Hart and Audu and Dubrai to leave from Beirut for Peking. The second group, the China group, was to be led by young Lieutenant Victor Point going west from Tientsin by way of Moscow and the Trans-Siberian Railway.
00:23:41
Speaker
The two groups would meet up at Kashgar on the Silk Road. This was a trading town, the traditional meeting place of east and west, then on to or back to Peking through Mongolia and across the Gobi Desert.
00:23:53
Speaker
Sounds pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah. The Pamir group was made up of Hart, Audun Dubrai, Andrei Gorger, and Henri Pecour, Secretary General and Paymaster. Alexander Yakovlev, the artist from the Noir, George Lefebvre, writer and historian commissioned to produce a book. Archaeologist Joseph Hacken.
00:24:14
Speaker
Maynard Owen Williams, an American writer and photographer, chief correspondent, and official delegate of the National Geographic Society of Washington. Plus 15 other men as drivers and mechanics, radio operators, cameramen, and sound recordists.
00:24:28
Speaker
That's a hell of a, ah ah sorry, that's a hell of a, ah I don't know, a fellowship. They had a whole, I can't make this bit work. Continue. Okay. Okay. Imagine how funny that would have been. would have been fucking great. Yeah. yeah And my car. Yeah, yeah that's right.
00:24:48
Speaker
Fellowship of the traveling. Progress half track. I don't know. Mixing movies up there. They used seven lightweight four-cylinder Caterpillar cars, all towing trailers that were needed to carry the group and all their equipment. The radio car had a generator and a powerful shortwave radio that would allow them to keep in touch with the other groups and with Paris through various relay stations and listening posts, including two French warships in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
00:25:16
Speaker
The China group used seven six-cylinder caterpillar cars of heavy-duty military design originally intended for this expedition, plus two conventional lorries. The group was led by Victor Point and manned by 10 drivers and mechanics, accompanied by engineer Charles Bruhl, the director of Sichuan Laboratories, cinematographer George Specht, archaeologist Jean Carl, naturalist Andre Raymond, medical doctor Robert Delastre, and radio specialist Roger Kervizic.
00:25:45
Speaker
I'm going to give you a heads up. I'm not going to remember a single one of those names. So when you, ah when you mentioned them again, circle back to what the role was. like I'm like, I need a list, a list of names just about, but yeah, the dramatic persona.
00:26:00
Speaker
And when you say cat or perler car, these are still the Congress hive half tracks, basically the same, maybe a more modern version of the noir expedition. Yeah. They're updated versions from that.
00:26:11
Speaker
Cool. twos Wheels in the front cats in the back. Yeah. Yep. Business the front, party in the back. That's basically it. Oh my God, they're the mullet of cars. They are, going to be so popular with lesbians.
00:26:25
Speaker
but You know what? They sound very highly functional and sensible vehicles. i was about to say, I want one. Just like, why don't they have ATVs like this?
00:26:36
Speaker
They'd probably flip less. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. I imagine they do have ATVs with tracks. Yeah, but they're not common. Fair.
00:26:47
Speaker
Another European joined the China group en route. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a French geologist, paleontologist, philosopher, mystic, and free thinker. He was a Jesuit priest who lived as a missionary in China for many years and was partially responsible for the discovery of Homo Sinanthropus, Peking Man.
00:27:07
Speaker
He was theologically... Yeah. The name is very familiar to me. He was theologically unorthodox and developed the concept of the new sphere, the unconscious union of thought amongst human beings. The Catholic church regarded as heretical. During his life, his superiors placed an embargo on philosophical work.
00:27:25
Speaker
that makes more sense noosphere the catholic church regarded this as heretical during his life his superiors placed an embargo on his philosophical work His famous book, The Phenomenon of man wasn't published until after he died.
00:27:38
Speaker
huh This sounds like interesting guy either the most interesting person to speak with or somebody who is simply intolerable to be in the presence of. Yeah, they're either. Yeah, super interesting or absolutely insufferable. Yeah, it's a good point. But yeah, I don't know. Getting excommunicated by the church for your ideas. i mean, that's but I don't know. I got to appreciate that.
00:28:02
Speaker
Yeah, that's pretty awesome. I mean, probably wasn't that hard to do, though, back in the day. Yeah. my One of my Mennonite ancestors was kicked out of the Mennonite church for smoking opium. Oh, wow.
00:28:13
Speaker
Oh, yeah. And I know where I get that from. Anyway. It's like, yeah, it's the family. Heresy and drug abuse. Two great tastes that taste great together.
00:28:26
Speaker
That's right. yep In February of 1931, six weeks before the departure from France, word came from Afghanistan that revolution had broken out in the north and the route over the Wachtier Pass was now impossible. With over 50 tons of fuel and supplies worth thousands of pounds already in place and the supply chain across Central Asia ready, postponing or canceling the expedition was far too costly to be a consideration. Yeah. The only alternative was to find another route through Chinese Turkestan by way of British India and attempt to cross one of the virtually inaccessible passes of the central Himalayas.
00:29:03
Speaker
Jesus Christ. That sounds like it'll work. is when They're too big to fail. so let's just march into the mountains and die. Like that's literally the cannibalism started. So we'll probably just die. Yeah, that's in the count. Yeah, probably. ah I want a disaster. Well, let's get it. No, I'm just kidding. yeah Hart was given permission to use the Gilgit route through the mountains. Gilgit is located in the region, in a region of the Karakorum mountains where the Karakorum, the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush ranges converge. This route was normally open only to military and diplomatic personnel.
00:29:39
Speaker
General Sir Ernest Swinton was able to get Colonel Sir Vivian Gabriel, who had unrivaled knowledge of India and her people. Gabriel volunteered to be on the next boat. Sorry?
00:29:50
Speaker
i said for a white man. Yeah. Unrivaled knowledge of India and her people. Yeah, for for white people.
Bureaucratic Challenges and Respite in Kashmir
00:29:57
Speaker
Gabriel volunteered to be on the next boat out to Reconnoiter Gilgit Pass and report to Hart in three months when the Pamir Group reached Srinagar in the foothills of the Himalayas.
00:30:07
Speaker
Early in the morning on April 4th, 1931, Hart's party, the Pamir Group, left Beirut for Kabul versus via Damascus, Baghdad, Tehran, Herat, and Kandahar.
00:30:18
Speaker
They arrived at Palmyra in Syria at night and in the morning found themselves surprised by its beauty during the day. It had once been a capital city, but was now just a road junction in the desert. If you Google this place, it's absolutely gorgeous.
00:30:32
Speaker
Oh, it's incredible. ah This is, i mean, it's one of the most ancient areas in the world in terms of continuous contiguous, su continuous, whichever civilization. And yeah,
00:30:43
Speaker
And civilization meaning building buildings that continue to stay up. Yeah, it's and it's astonishing. Yeah, apparently ISIS tried to destroy was left, I guess, of the ruins.
00:30:54
Speaker
Yes, that was one of their big deals is destroying everything they could of that kind of ancient, particularly pre-Islamic or wrong Islamic kind of stuff. And yeah, yeah. For three days, the Pamir group was stopped in Baghdad.
00:31:15
Speaker
They met His Majesty King Faisal. A parade was held in their honour. Yakovlev painted a number of portraits for onlookers. It was in Baghdad that they received a message over the wireless.
00:31:25
Speaker
It reads, From Peking NR6 Beirut W23 FPCF have broken track bands and are immobilized after three days, March 30 miles west of Peking. Stop. We'll try to reach Cal Yan with spares available.
00:31:42
Speaker
Stop. Are fully confident. Stop. Victor point. Point's message was not reassuring. The Pamir group wanted to move on quickly despite being offered a stay of two months. Hart had a message sent back to Point, reading, Go slow until obstacles are removed. Advancing towards you happy and confident.
00:32:00
Speaker
Hart. So just for some context here on the different groups, there's people in Peking already? There's a group starting, there's the Beirut group that's starting out. And then there's a group in Peking that is going to go basically halfway and meet them in Kashgar on the Silk Road. And then they'll all go back to Peking together.
00:32:19
Speaker
Got it. Understood. I thought for some reason, I misunderstood what you said and thought they were going to go to Peking and then back, but rather, okay, I get it. Okay. Yeah. So they got the group coming from Peking, meet them in the middle, and then they all team up together. And the Peking team have just ah got a broken track.
00:32:40
Speaker
Everything's doomed. ah But nonetheless, the Western group is going to continue pushing on and assume Peking group will be fine and catch up. Yep. Got it. So far, the few messages sent to the China group had gone through two relays. One was a wireless station at Beirut and the other a French naval squadron somewhere in the Far East.
00:32:58
Speaker
On April 28, they entered Tehran. Their presence provoked a mutual curiosity and their hosts wanted to show off what was new and modern about the city. But the Pamir group wanted to see old Persia.
00:33:10
Speaker
I get the instinct on both ends. It's like... there was a short stay in harat afghanistan from there they turned south towards farahh rudd from farahh rudd they went east again to kandahar and then north to kabul a five hundred mile or eight hundred kiilometer detour around the western spurs of the hindu kush they were to take the same route followed by alexander the great twenty two centuries earlier I can't imagine going over this. And these are open top cars, right? And they're what?
00:33:39
Speaker
These cars, do they have like, are they open top? No, they have roofs. Okay, good. I was just saying that this, we're getting into some pretty intense ah terrain and weather because it's,
00:33:54
Speaker
Again, going to vacillate between very hot and very cold. And it's extremely arid and rocky. And just it's just all it's just hard land, right?
00:34:05
Speaker
Yeah. And they have roofs, but they don't have air conditioning. No. Yeah. And they're probably wearing huge, like, heavy wool European suits, too. i never understood that. You see people, like, in India in the 1900s wearing, like, heavy dresses and wool suits. It's like, my God. Yeah. How did they not just melt? Yeah.
00:34:25
Speaker
oh When they approached Kabul, they were surprised by the well-watered and perfectly laid-out boulevard bordered by poplars. Quote, when, after slowly circling the well-kept lawn gay with flowerbeds, our seven cars started in a procession up this avenue. We felt as if we were entering Kabul by its chomps Elysee. Aww.
00:34:45
Speaker
They left Kabul on June 14th and passed through the Bamiyan Valley, home to two remarkable Buddha statues, one 175 feet high and the other 120 feet high, carved from the cliffs and in the valley. These two statues were created in the 6th to 7th century.
00:35:02
Speaker
In 2001, the Taliban had both statues destroyed using anti-aircraft guns, anti-tank mines, and dynamite over several weeks. They claimed this was because Afghanistan was a Muslim country, but the country had been Muslim since around the 10th century.
00:35:16
Speaker
Bamiyan is now listed as the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Danger. So take a look at them on Google sometime. They're quite remarkable. I remember that happening. I've seen images of this as well. And this is ah you get particular with the Taliban, fairly young people who are just pushed. Yeah. Well, and pushed and pushed and pushed into increasingly deranged ideas. And it's and it's although ISIS is very different. ah It's sort of the same force that pushes people here where there's this idea of just purifying everything that is not of the world you're trying to create. Yeah. Yeah.
00:36:03
Speaker
And yeah foolishness, but well, and it's just, and also doing something that is so absolutely horrifying and outrageous in that sense is kind of part of the point.
00:36:16
Speaker
Right. Because it's empowering and it's, it sucks. Right. Because none of this crap would have happened without, you know, lots and lots and lots of colonialism, looting, extraction, death and devastation, et cetera. That's right. Yeah.
00:36:30
Speaker
Yeah. Thanks, Russia. And then thanks, America. And then thanks, England, before that. Y'all did great. Anyways. Yeah. The expedition made a southeasterly detour across the Afghan high plateau and descended through the Jalalabad Basin, where for the first time they felt the heat of the Indian plains like a blast from an open furnace door.
00:36:49
Speaker
The thermometer hit 50 degrees Celsius or 122 degrees Fahrenheit. Gasoline vaporized in the tanks and the cars were losing power. It's one of the hottest places on the planet. They're in Punjab now. Yeah. Yeah. yeah Sort of the Afghan-Pakistani border. Not Afghan, Indian-Pakistani border. And this is yeah for the before the partition. But yeah. Yeah.
00:37:13
Speaker
Towards the end of June, the rough track of the Khyber Pass gave way to proper highway and the Pamir Group found itself at the northwest frontier post of Landy Khanna, the gateway to British India. They were met by Gurkha guard officered by an Englishman. They had drinks at the guard post and were invited to lunch at the officer's mess and the Landy Kotal Fort, where they were met by Brigadier General Sandeman and Colonel Gabriel.
00:37:38
Speaker
After lunch, but not before many farewell drinks, they set off heading east on the road to Peshawar. At Peshawar, the group took advantage of the hospitality of the officers of the Khyber Rifles and the ah RAF, which offered their workshops and engineering resources to make adjustments and repairs to the vehicles.
00:37:55
Speaker
they're getting through. they're They're just kind of having to make a lot of repairs as they go. Yeah. Slow going because of the heat. Yes. And training. The Pamir group passed through Punjab to Rawopindi, where they started the slow climb through the foothills of the Himalayas to Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir.
00:38:14
Speaker
They were welcomed by His Highness the Maharaja Sir Harry
Crossing the Himalayas
00:38:17
Speaker
Singh. Srinagar was known as the Venice of India and was renowned as a pleasure resort for British officers and officials in India.
00:38:24
Speaker
The Maharaja of Kashmir invited them to be his guests during their stay and they enjoyed a few days of relaxation. I was looking at some pictures. It looks gorgeous, actually. Yeah, it does.
00:38:35
Speaker
Srinagar was the start of the hard part of the trip. Hart's plan was to carry on up over the 13,775-foot-high pass, Burzil Pass, to Gilgit.
00:38:46
Speaker
From there, they'd connect with the original planned route to Kashgar through the Karakorum Range. This would take approximately 45 days to complete. The local opinion said it was impossible to take a vehicle beyond Gilgit. But Hart believed it could be done.
00:38:59
Speaker
Plus, they'd arrive on schedule in Kashgar to make their reunion with China Group on or around July 20th. Got it. So they've been through ah sort of West Asia, through Afghanistan, the Khyber Pass.
00:39:14
Speaker
into this scorching area of of the northern subcontinent. They're in Kashmir, and now they're heading into the Himalayas where cars do not go. Yes. Got it. Yeah, this seems pretty... I mean, I get they had to reroute, but they're rerouting through some pretty... like the most The highest mountains in the on the planet. like Yeah. was it on With a car, untested. you know yeah And the idea is they're going to go through here into Qing Kang, sort of what is now northwestern China. And at that point was its own thing, I think. it's It was complicated back then.
00:39:54
Speaker
Yeah, Sienkian was a province. Got it. The Pamir Group's cars were designed so they could be progressively lightened by stripping them down bit by bit to the basic engine and chassis. And if it came down to it, even the engine could be dismantled and carried by pack horses. Colonel Gabriel pointed out that it wasn't as much a problem of terrain as logistics.
00:40:14
Speaker
A 45-day march at this altitude called for a minimum weight of 1,000 pounds of baggage for each European. This included food, warm clothing, tents and equipment and supplies for camping, plus fuel and spare parts for the vehicles. Therefore, 23 people would require 400 men or 200 horses.
00:40:33
Speaker
If all seven vehicles attempted the trip, the number of porters and horses would need to be doubled. Jesus. I see what the comment of this is not about terrain, it's logistics. It's we know how to get past this terrain, but do we know how to get all the stuff we need through it? Yes. Also a very military minded thing to say.
00:40:51
Speaker
Yeah. Here's a point where I'm like, man, is this even worth it anymore? now it's it's starting when you realize that you're like, oh this is kind of silly. I think ah vacationing in Colonial Srinagar sounds um very pleasant.
00:41:05
Speaker
Just stay there. Yeah. Just hang out. It's like a lovely place. Yeah. Yeah. So the solution was to divide the group into three smaller groups with departures staggered by eight days. This meant group two could use the porters and ponies sent back by group one and group three would go when the porters and ponies arrived back after group two. Okay.
00:41:24
Speaker
Only two vehicles and their drivers would be able to keep going. The rest would have to return to France. Everyone in the group was limited to 600 pounds per person. Oh my God. Imagine getting to the base of the Himalayas and being like, all right, two cars, because it's going to require the entire population of Kashmir to get the supplies of this fucking hill.
00:41:46
Speaker
Yeah. Turn around, go back. Yeah. Yeah. yeah Just hang around in base camp. You know, it's fine. Yeah. I'd like to hang around at base camp for like K2 or Everest and just, just for a week and see what it's like. I don't want to climb them because I would die, by just hanging out at base camp, looking at the mountain sounds like a lot of fun to me.
00:42:06
Speaker
Well, yeah. It's like Mitch Hedberg, immortal Mitch Hedberg. You're base camp, meaning good mountain. Soon.
00:42:13
Speaker
I love Mitch Hedberg. Jammu and Kashmir, that sort of highly disputed area where there's indigenous Kashmiri people who are effectively under occupation. The contested land between India, Pakistan, and China. That's something I definitely... Yeah. Yeah.
00:42:33
Speaker
In terms of following curiosity, it's just a part of the world that I know is so important, so disputed and so tragic in a lot of ways. It's a beautiful, lot of so's. Yeah, definitely stories there.
00:42:46
Speaker
Yeah. On June 29th, they received a radio message that the China group had encountered fighting between Chinese forces and Muslim rebels in Xinjiang. Their arrival in Kashgar would be delayed.
00:42:59
Speaker
The message read, FPCF from FXI Beirut Radio from Points Mission, NR18. Arrived Hammy yesterday, June 25. Stop.
00:43:10
Speaker
Passed through severe battle between Chinese troops and Mohammedan rebels. Stop. Left Petro alone at Hami with a damaged lorry. Stop. As soon as it is repaired, he will join us in Kashgar. Stop. Grave Mohammedan rebellion makes progress difficult.
00:43:27
Speaker
V point. Yep. That'll do it. It's kind of like the the way they rerouted too. It's like the most difficult, way more difficult terrain. Plus... Way more political instability. Yes.
00:43:39
Speaker
Yeah, it's kind of. Yeah, absolutely. Well, they are just heading into the land of political instability because this is, again, mid-Civil War, revolutionary China. and you've got the sort of the Uyghur population there. And yeah, the revolutionary forces and everyone's getting along great. This is a happy route.
00:44:00
Speaker
Yeah. Nothing to see here. Awesome. We wrong. Nope. Hearts party. The second group set off on July 12th over the Brazil pass with the two remaining vehicles, the golden scarab and the silver crescent.
00:44:16
Speaker
They were now three and a half months and 3,500 miles or kilometers from Beirut. the next miles or kilometers would probably take them just as long. Wow. is The Golden Scarab, that vehicle's seen some shit.
00:44:31
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, that was the one that caught on fire and Africa. Like, still going strong. Yep. Yeah, all they had to do was replace a couple of wires and away they went.
00:44:43
Speaker
Wow. Despite the fact the thing been burned to a skeleton. Right. against Right? If our Subaru burned to a skeleton, ah we would not be able to replace a couple of wires and keep it going.
00:44:55
Speaker
No. no Just don't make them the same way, you know? We used to own things.
00:45:02
Speaker
That is the one boomer thing where i'm like, yeah, that's true. Yeah, that's that's a good point. We used own things that were high quality, damn it. God, if only the people who ran those countries, I'm sorry, countries, companies, and ah contributed to the inshittification of all things. Again, it's not a generational problem. It's a capitalism problem. That's another episode.
00:45:23
Speaker
Sure is. Yep. The Burzill Pass had been hit with heavy rains recently. Rivers were swollen, bridges destroyed, track washed out, and there were landslides. At one point, it took 10 hours to cover just four miles. In places, the trail was barely four feet wide, seven inches narrower than the tracks of the vehicles. So with cliffs on one side and drop-offs on the other.
00:45:47
Speaker
Oh, Jesus Christ, that's terrifying. Yeah. Plus, Brazil Pass had 20 feet of snow, so the party had to creep along while probing the snow for hidden crevasses. I'll stop complaining about our four feet of snow then.
00:45:59
Speaker
Yeah. No, come on. At this point, four feet have fallen. ah We just happen to have two feet of snow on the lawn. ah Really? ah It's insane.
00:46:10
Speaker
We got some snow and then it's been pouring rain for the last two days. Oh, wow. It's going change. My hometown is basically a Pacific Northwest weather now, unfortunately.
00:46:21
Speaker
Wow. Vancouver here in the winter. Yeah. But this is wild. Come on. At this point, you're probing the snow. Like, you're gonna die. You're gonna just fall off the cliff edge. What are we doing here? I'm looking at images of the Burzil Pass, and it is beautiful and absolutely terrifying. My God. Yeah. Like, I'm sure it's amazing, but like...
00:46:40
Speaker
I don't know. At a certain point, you've got to say look. But then they're in the middle of nowhere. How do they get out? They've got to go back to where they came, right? like yeah They're not just having some helicopter come pick them up, right? This is like, well, just keep going, I guess.
00:46:51
Speaker
For most river crossings, they judged the best course of action was for porters to lug the two-ton cars across rickety wooden bridges. It was too dangerous. Shut up! Yeah, they get the porters to do it. Yeah. yeah you Don't worry about it. You'll got it.
00:47:08
Speaker
We believe in you. yeah you guys will be fine. Yeah. These like archaeologists and colonels and ah engineers and other and diplomats are like just giving a thumbs up with a big smile as this yeah bridge is swaying wildly side to side with like this porter and like a half ton caterpillar over his head. Yeah.
00:47:31
Speaker
ah They're just waiting. yeah We'll be fine. Yeah. Yeah. It was too dangerous for the drivers to sit in the cars and steer. So they steered from behind using ropes like reins.
00:47:44
Speaker
What a scene. Once the track gave way under the golden scarab and it hung over a precipice over the Astor River. It took five hours with jacks, crowbars, and winches to get it to solid ground.
00:47:56
Speaker
Damn. I thought the solution was going to be there's going to have a cat jump on the side that's not falling off the cliff. and Oh, absolutely. And it'll be a how cat. It's that part of the world.
00:48:08
Speaker
The cutest of all cats. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. Just doing like their grumpy fucking palace cat face. Just sitting on the edge of a caterpillar saving several dozen lives. Yep. Yeah. Who doesn't like You're going over the edge. Wandered to the wrong side and a bunch of Frenchmen die. Yeah. That's right.
00:48:23
Speaker
Yeah. oh That's P-A-L-L-A-S cat, not P-A-L-A-C-E. Right. if you're If you happen to be trying to look it up. I think the other term is Manuel. Yeah, Manuel is the, I think, the actual name for them.
00:48:37
Speaker
Oh, that's right. They're called both, but I think Manuel is maybe a local name. Anyways, they're they're adorable and irrelevant. Continue on. On July 21st, the party reached the village of Astor, perched high up and overlooking the junction of two massive gorges ringed by towering peaks.
00:48:55
Speaker
huh Hart was still optimistic that the cars could get through under their own power, though due to elevation, the power output of the engines was only about half. Interesting. Oh, right. Because there's just less oxygen in the air. so they're Right. Yeah, that makes sense. Internal combustion engine, blah, blah, blah, flaming the game Yeah, internal combustion engine requires oxygen. And if the air is thin, you're not going to have a lot of oxygen.
00:49:17
Speaker
I believe this village is also perched precariously at a cliff with strategically placed mantles that are just supposed to stay perfectly still or everybody careens into a valley.
00:49:29
Speaker
Yeah, that's right. What's the village called again? Astor. A-S-T-O-R. Okay. As he asked her, but anyways, continue on. i'll ah They were beginning to be concerned that they hadn't heard from Victor Point and the China group in three weeks. Farther along the valley, they came to a place where the mountainside had collapsed. It was incredibly unstable and a new path needed to be made. So they couldn't drive across it.
00:49:53
Speaker
Instead, they'd have to dismantle the cars completely. Oh God. we Whacking a vehicle. Yeah. Wow. Wow. At dawn on July 25th, they divided the cars into 60 pounds or 27 kilos um of loads that could be carried by ponies and mules. Two days later, the slide was successfully bypassed. Damn.
00:50:15
Speaker
I just thought taking apart your entire vehicle and then just carrying them across, putting them back together. That's amazing. 60-pound chunks. Yeah. Yeah. that yeah That's crazy. Portage La Prius.
00:50:28
Speaker
Yeah. yes Is it portage? Yeah. Bivouac. What's bivouacking? Camping. It's the same thing. It's like camping. I don't know. I don't know my Canadian, French Canadian fur trapper terminology as well as I should.
00:50:42
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Bivouac is a, ah is, is a sort of temporary moving camp. While portage is hauling your canoe. So for example, if you're moving from the North Saskatchewan to the Athabasca river, you would portage it that way up. Yeah. That's right. Which is a nice, easy walk.
00:50:59
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Again, like this one, just portage your car through the mountains. This dangerous pass where might fall off a cliff. Palace cats might cut your face off. Like, you know. I don't think they actually would, but you never know. There's snow leopards, too. I'm sure they're a little bitier.
00:51:18
Speaker
On August 4th, they arrived at Gilgit and found the entire population of the town waiting for them. There was also a telegram waiting for them from Audu and Dubrai, dispatched from Peshwari on July 25th. Group 3, his group, was the one with the radio set.
Political Instability in Xinjiang
00:51:32
Speaker
They received word that China group ran into trouble and were seriously delayed. Their path had been diverted, and now instead of arriving at Kashgar, they were detained at Urumqi, 800 miles, or 1,300 kilometers, to the northeast. No one had any idea what was happening to China Group, but now Pamir Group was certain that the proposed reunion at Kashgar was off, that it would now be impossible.
00:51:54
Speaker
Pamir Group had to have a rethink. It would be pointless to continue. you yeah I'm looking at a map. It's like north of the Gobi. My God, they have been diverted. Which city again? Was it Arunqi? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Damn.
00:52:08
Speaker
Wow. like We did not go where we wanted to go. No. Pamir group had to have a rethink. It would be pointless to continue over the Hunza gorges and the Karakoram mountains. They would run out of fuel long before reaching Urumqi. But it seemed imperative now to continue by the fastest means en route to Urumqi, even if it meant abandoning the mission.
00:52:31
Speaker
They decided that Hart, Audu, and Dubrai, the scientists, cinematographer, and camera crew would continue on horseback and leave the vehicles and their drivers behind. The Silver Crescent was presented to the government of India and left at Gilgit. The Golden Scarab was dismantled and sent back to Paris.
00:52:48
Speaker
André Citroën was anxiously waiting by the radio for news of the expedition. When the expedition was in planning stages, he had anticipated that thanks to the new medium of radio, He would have no problems in communicating with both groups. André saw the radio as a tool of democracy, allowing an instantaneous dialogue, linking the citizens of every nation and not merely just their rulers. He believed that the radio transcended geographical and political barriers that prevented the fast and free exchange of ideas. It would lead to a new age of international understanding and cooperation. Citroen reminds me of the utopian internet people from the early 2000s during the dot-com boom before social media and algorithms destroyed everything.
00:53:34
Speaker
Yeah. But the notion that the internet would foster in this new age of everybody being beautifully educating because they... All of human knowledge would be at their fingertips. And these ideas that we would have this like true universal democracy and these sort of enlightened man kind of idea rather than the burning hellscape we now all live in. So ah but I do appreciate that starry eyed optimism because it's because it's a lovely thing. Even if you look back and go, oh buddy. Yeah.
00:54:10
Speaker
I know. i just didn't imagine. This guy's incredibly optimistic about technology. Yeah. Like incredibly where it's like, wow. Like yeah just as an an ounce of cynicism.
00:54:20
Speaker
Maybe. Other people got that. That's true. You know what? Let him be our beautiful starry eyed boy. And you know what? We need those people actually because yes it is possible.
00:54:32
Speaker
Better things are possible. So yeah it's unfortunate the way it did turn out, but you know. yeahp Didn't have to be that way either.
00:54:42
Speaker
Thanks again, capitalism. Yeah, assholes. Honestly, as I said that earlier too, ultimately the root of all problems is capitalism. Like honestly.
00:54:54
Speaker
Anyway. yeah We could higher quality problems, dammit. That's right. The obstacles in the path of the China group were almost entirely man-made. Since leaving Tianjin on April 6, 1931, they had suffered repeated setbacks. The press showed itself to be hostile to the expedition. The Chinese scientists that were supposed to be accompanying them had not yet arrived.
00:55:16
Speaker
Marshall King sent a warning to them that they might be attacked by bandits in this on the Xinjiang frontier. And in his opinion, the journey was too dangerous and should be abandoned. Then they had a truck fall through the rotten timbers. Bandits are just part of the job. Yeah.
00:55:31
Speaker
Sorry. To this day, I mean, this that's always been the case. If you're a scientist, bandits are always out to get you. It's just. It's true. Scientists at my workplace are constantly beset upon by bandits. Yeah. one I think. Sorry. Go on. You were about to say something cool. Yeah. Sorry. I had to cut in with my stupid bandit. panter Then they had a truck fall through the rotten timbers of an old bridge and very narrowly escape total destruction. Jesus. Point was recalled to Peking by urgent message. The latest press campaign accused them of not flying the Chinese flag alongside the French one in Peking.
00:56:07
Speaker
The Federation of Chinese Scientific Societies used this time to reopen the question of their sanction of the journey. And then the cars were breaking down because of a technical problem with adjustment with the adjustment of the track band pulleys. The entire stock of supplies had been used up and they had to cable Andre to send replacements by rail.
00:56:27
Speaker
Hmm. Jesus Christ. Sounds like capitalism is about to happen. But also flags, can I couldn just say as an aside, flags are stupid. Like people get so angry about flags.
00:56:37
Speaker
and i do. And don't care about flags at all. I have very strong opinions that completely coincide with yours. is I mean, I like a big lovely symbol. Who doesn't? But people get weird about flags. yeah in case It sounds like it was kind of an excuse to be like, ah, we don't like it. was it It was looking for, a yeah, it sounds like they were looking for a reason to grow cold on it because of the politics at the time. And the problem, of course, is that they are in north ah ah they're ah they're in Northwestern China and everything's fallen apart and the bandits are coming and they have started to eat eat eat each other. And it's that's when the cannibalism started.
00:57:21
Speaker
Exactly. That's right. The bandits are coming and they're to eat us and take our flags. No, not the flags. um April 24th, they reached the Great Wall at Calgan, where they waited for the new track bands and the delegation of eight Chinese scientists that would be accompanying them on the mission.
00:57:41
Speaker
The track bands were soon delivered, but the Chinese scientists didn't arrive until May 24th, full month later. On the 27th of May... So how are they eating... ah Well, right now there's what they're in a town called Calgan, so they're staying at hotels. and yeah yeah' they have because They just don't have supplies to continue traveling. I see. yeah yes They're not just in the middle of nowhere. Yeah.
00:58:05
Speaker
Yep. On the 27th of May, China Group reached the outskirts of the Gobi Desert, traveling at approximately 70 miles or 110 kilometers per day. They had 1,800 gallons or 6,800 liters for the 1,250 mile, 2,000 kilometer crossing. They had to contend with the continual risk of fires ignited by the near constant electrical storms. Oh, God.
00:58:27
Speaker
June 2nd, they were grounded due to a violent sandstorm. When the dust cleared, they found the trail had been erased. Lefebvre says in an Eastern Odyssey, quote, the only evidence that the trail had ever existed being the complete skeleton of a camel with skull, ribs, spine, and hoofs.
00:58:44
Speaker
Oh, that's so hardcore. Yeah. This is getting very Donner Party, too. Yeah. Across the Great Salt Lake. It's getting very Donner Party. It's like, oh, no, the desert. When you get to the desert, that's the easy part.
00:58:56
Speaker
Oh, shit. Yeah. Yeah, this part's flat. It's not the Himalayas. That sucked. Thank God we're in a happier place now. The Kobe Desert. Just, you know, what ignore the skeletons.
00:59:08
Speaker
Camels should have no difficulty in finding spare parts in this country, one of the men remarked. but but Genuinely great bet. I love it when a joke from the 1930s still lands today.
00:59:22
Speaker
Yep. That's pretty good. On June 6th, gas cans started exploding in the intense heat. They found they had just enough gas for 120 miles or 200 kilometers, but the closest supply dump was at least twice that distance.
00:59:37
Speaker
The others halted while Point and Petro went on ahead for more gas. Fortunately, the supply dump had been buried underground and hadn't been interfered with. Well, if you're going to anybody for gas, you send Petro. Yeah.
00:59:50
Speaker
Could you imagine your gas cans exploding and this sheer terror when you're going through this um physically and politically hostile area and suddenly your gas cans start exploding?
01:00:06
Speaker
Oh, my God. Yeah, terrifying. Just disassemble me and ship me back to Paris at this point. Yeah. would yeah Yeah, I would not have made it this far, I think. Or actually, I probably would have. I would have been one of those ones to hold out to the very end because I don't mind traveling under horrific circumstances.
01:00:24
Speaker
h Tracy's always in for a road trip. yeah Yeah, that's true. I do like a good road trip. My tolerance is getting bad, though, for heat, though. That's my thing. but Oh, yeah, I don't do well with the heat.
01:00:36
Speaker
I'm going be somewhere where it's 25 degrees everywhere all the time. Every season. Yeah. That's just Los Angeles. You don't want to be there. No, that's true.
01:00:46
Speaker
On June 15th, all nine cars entered Suchao. It took five more days to go 250 miles or 400 kilometers between Suchao and the Sinkiang frontier. At Minshui Pass, the Mongolian plateau gave way to rolling plains. Along the way, they began to encounter ominous warnings of trouble to the west.
01:01:05
Speaker
On June 28th, they arrived at the outskirts of the oasis of Hami and found the houses in flames and the village
Winter Conditions and Final Push to Peking
01:01:12
Speaker
deserted. Revolt had broken out in Sin Kiang by Muslim insurgents, and over the next few days, the, quote, horrified Europeans witnessed scenes of cruelty and carnage.
01:01:21
Speaker
Oh my god. Ever present were the distant sounds of gunfire. Hammy itself, however, was still in government hands. There was constant friction with the Chinese scientists, too, who wouldn't recognize Point's authority.
01:01:35
Speaker
And then things got worse. Oh, great. yeah The officer commanding the Chinese garrison said orders had been received from Marshal King that instead of being allowed to carry on to Aksu and Kashgar, they were to proceed under escort to Urumqi.
01:01:52
Speaker
Marshal King revoked the permit of safe conduct through his province. The reason that was given was that the expedition was seen photographing scenes of fighting that were considered detrimental to the national dignity of China. Though the real reason was that Marshall King was upset because the gift of three motor cars promised by Andre Citroen failed to arrive. that's Classic dictatorship. ah yeah Yeah. Flattery and like, well, I don't want you to see my work around. So is, just to clarify politically, this is the Chinese government Chiang Kai-shek, not the communist revolutionaries? Yeah, it's Chiang Kai-shek.
01:02:25
Speaker
Got it. And they're clashing with local Islamic groups, yes? Yeah. The entire group, including the Chinese scientists, left Hami for Urumqi on July 1st. They crossed the infamous Turfan Depression, which is a trough at the foot of the Bogda Mountains in China. The depression was described as a stifling hellhole, 85 feet below sea level. The heat reached 122 Fahrenheit or 50 degrees Celsius.
01:02:52
Speaker
my God. On July 9th, 19th, the group reached Urumqi. But they did not enter the town and surrender. Instead, on points orders, they set up camp outside the town's walls to prevent seizure of their vehicles. The cars were further immobilized by removing the caterpillar tracks. Passports and official recognition had been canceled by the government in Nanking as well as the regime in Xinjiang. China group remained... They were kind of stuck. him Yeah. China group remained under virtual arrest for 43 days. They were forbidden to use the radio, so it was impossible to get word to the Pamir group of their situation. The only consolation was that the Chinese delegates returned east.
01:03:31
Speaker
God, this Chiang Kai-shek guy sounds kind of awful. hope someone does so did something about him. Yeah. He sounds like kind of a, I don't know, like look at dictator, like a bad bad guy. Yeah. I don't know. It sounds like he likes landlords a lot.
01:03:46
Speaker
Anyway, I kid. But yes, this sounds like a bad scene being trapped there and not able to communicate. That is, that's not great.
01:03:57
Speaker
Point knew they'd need to outside in intervention, but they had to get word to Hart, who was currently in the middle of the Himalayas. So the group pretended to have a party celebrating the centenary of the founding of the Third French Republic. They raised the radio aerial disguised as a flagpole flying the French flag and sent a message via Morse code.
01:04:15
Speaker
The guards wanted to know why the engine was running at night, and the group explained it was to power their gramophone, which was actually a wind-up one. Yeah. Amazing. was about to say, gramophone typically, yeah.
01:04:28
Speaker
A use for a flag. but also, cranking up the gramophone, they're like, oh yeah, checks out. That's pretty funny. yeah I appreciate that as a genuinely like cunning plan. Yeah.
01:04:39
Speaker
The message was picked up by several listening posts around the world, including a French sloop in Hong Kong. This is the message received by Hart 10 days later. By now, the rebellion around Hami swelled to the point where Chinese supremacy in Xinjiang was threatened. A government army of 8,000 soldiers was slaughtered by the rebels.
01:04:58
Speaker
Without reinforcements to head them off, the Muslims would soon be at Urumqi and have total control of the region. With telegraph lines cut, communication with the capital was impossible, so Marshal King needed French help. On August 20th, he summoned Point to his headquarters.
01:05:14
Speaker
He said that even though Nanking cancelled their passports, he would authorize Hart to enter Sin Kiang on the condition that Pointe send his wireless expert to establish radio communications with Nanking.
01:05:26
Speaker
They agreed that on September 6th, four cars could go and meet up with Hart and the remnants of the Pamir group coming from Kashgar. At the time, the Pamir group was two days from the Sin Kiang border.
01:05:37
Speaker
As Hart understood it, their cancelled visa entry to Sin Kiang was renewed, and they were allowed to carry on, under the condition that the three Citroen cars and other equipment that fell into Muslim rebel hands would be replaced immediately. Okay, so they did lose some goods. They weren't totally unscathed by the conflict itself.
01:05:55
Speaker
Yeah. When the third group caught up to the other two, Pamir group reassembled, free to proceed, but without the caterpillar cars they were forced to abandon, and proceed they did with horses, mules, and camels.
01:06:07
Speaker
So that's kind of it for their point though, hey? Yep. If the point was to prove, yeah these vehicles can do it, that sucks. Yeah. But I guess you gotta to get out of there. On October 8th, the two groups were finally reunited in the village of Islam Bai.
01:06:22
Speaker
Hark and Point together reached Urumqi on October 27th. It was the first time the entire group was together since leaving Paris seven months before. They were three months behind schedule with winter only weeks away, and they still needed permission from Marshal King to leave for Peking. Urumqi to Peking would take it at least six weeks. That's so weird.
01:06:42
Speaker
Yeah, that's long distance. There was a general sense of optimism that they'd be able to get on with it. But the promised travel permits failed to appear. Marshall King was now too busy with the rebels to be bothered with such a minor thing.
01:06:54
Speaker
Hart was seriously worried about having to cross the frozen heart of Asia in the depths of winter. So the vehicles were insulated with felt and the crews with sheepskins. They had been prepared only for semi-tropical conditions.
01:07:06
Speaker
Yeah, that's even more luggage. Like someone who's tried to pack for a trip that extended over the summer into the winter. That's challenge. That's a challenge. You know, and it's got suitcases to worry about.
01:07:17
Speaker
Again, this is getting more Donner Party-ish too, where it's like winter's coming. Maybe you should wait. Yeah. But. The replacement cars finally arrived from Paris on November 20th. A week later, the communal passport was issued by Marshall King and they were finally free to go on their way to Peking. Yeah. Minor delay.
01:07:37
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. the return across the mongolian plateau was an ordeal by ice the cold is so extreme that hot soup froze solid in minutes after being ladled into metal bowls boiling water froze immediately when poured into radiators yeah The engines were kept running to avoid freezing up.
01:07:55
Speaker
When the cars broke down, which they did, the mechanics needed time to fix things, like taking a blowtorch to frozen brake drums. They were almost in sight of Peking when they were set upon by bandits.
01:08:06
Speaker
but
01:08:11
Speaker
Everything's fine, it's getting better, and the bandits show up. Yeah, yeah that's when the bandits came. a Oh, just can't win. was just thinking too, you guys, you currently live in Alberta, so you know ah how cold. So we're talking probably minus 40, 50 Celsius here.
01:08:32
Speaker
Probably, yeah yeah. Yeah, at least minus 40. If you take boiling water at minus 40 and throw it into the air, it just all turns to ice. Yeah. Yeah. sort yeah damn and i haven't yeah having spent a winter in kazakhstan i it's not pleasant it's just howling wind and the cold for man like six months yeah oof yeah it's like winter here six good six months but probably not as cold as no kazakhstan
01:09:04
Speaker
Look, we're not traveling. It's probably the same. And we're not traveling, right? like there It's actually probably very, very similar, actually. Flat steps, you're on the prairies. Yeah, it's quite similar. yeah. Yeah, I'm curious about this, too, because they don't have their vehicles anymore either, right? Well, they met with the other group. Do they still have their vehicles? The China group still has theirs.
01:09:20
Speaker
Yes. Okay, that's right. Yeah, I understand. It was February 12th, 1932, the 315th day since Hart left Beirut, that they finally arrived at the outskirts of Peking. They passed through the western gate of the forbidden city of Peking and were met by almost all of the Europeans living in the city.
01:09:38
Speaker
Wait, what what happened with the bandits? I don't know. but the And so the books are like, and then bandits attacked us. Yep. E-King. Fair. Okay. We'll just, theater of the mind.
01:09:51
Speaker
Yeah. We kind of skipped over the bandits showing up. The bandits attacked us and it was fine. Yeah. Everything was great. Okay. But they made it to Peking. Something happened they don't want to talk about. I'm worried about them. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, wow.
01:10:06
Speaker
The stay in Peking lasted only 15 days. Then they were off on the next stage of the journey. For Peking wasn't the end of it. From Shanghai, they would go to so go by sea to Haiphong with a stop in Hong Kong. Then in French Indochina, they would explore a route between Hanoi and Saigon. There was talk of continuing further through Siam, Burma, India, and southern Persia.
01:10:27
Speaker
Just being a big circle. Wow. Yeah. So hit the ocean and then start circling back and then do a little mini expeditions around ah yeah various parts of ah sort of Southern Asia.
01:10:39
Speaker
Yeah, pretty much. Cool. There's a problem if you have wanderlust, though. It's like me. I'll be planning a vacation to, like, I'll go to one city, and then I go, oh, that one's just a train, a three-hour train ride away. Oh, and then further from there, oh, that's just five more hours. And you you end up making huge itinerary to see all these places that you didn't plan on. It's like, yeah, it sounds like they have that.
01:10:57
Speaker
Yeah. It's like, well, looking at a map, it can't be that far. Yeah. That's close enough. hour I'm already here. as well just go, know. Stretch it a little bit further. Yeah.
01:11:08
Speaker
Yeah. Why
Georges-Marie Hart's Illness and Death
01:11:09
Speaker
not? Yeah. I mean, we're already in, it'll be, yeah. Vietnam, basically. We're already in Saigon. Let's yeah. I mean, just, it's pretty easy to swing back over, you know, through the Himalayas. so Not that far.
01:11:21
Speaker
No big deal. Yeah. Yeah. On March 3rd, 1932 in Shanghai, Hart complained of feeling unwell. The expedition's doctor diagnosed to chill. Nothing a few days of rest couldn't fix. Yeah.
01:11:33
Speaker
When they landed in Hong Kong on March 12th, Hart went straight to his hotel room. The governor of Hong Kong's medical advisor diagnosed a severe case of influenza and prescribed three weeks of rest. Jesus. Three days later, Hart developed pneumonia in the lower lobe of his left lung, and his temperature rose to almost 104 degrees Fahrenheit or degrees Celsius.
01:11:55
Speaker
Overnight, he started to have trouble breathing and was given oxygen. Around 3 a.m. on March 16th, his temperatures started to go down, but his breathing was slower and more feeble.
01:12:06
Speaker
At 3.40 a.m., Georges-Marie Hart passed away. That
Expedition Outcomes and Scientific Success
01:12:10
Speaker
sucks. Damn. Survives all of that and then just keels over from a flu. yeah Granted, flus do that, particularly in the 30s, but damn.
01:12:20
Speaker
Yeah. It's still surprising. It's like, ah yeah, that's that could happen. On March 17th, the expedition arrived at Hanoi. What was supposed to be a celebratory event had now become of day in mourning.
01:12:32
Speaker
I was bound by the ties of my deepest friendship to Hart, the director general of the Citroën factories, who had been my collaborator for 15 years, Andre wrote later. He was an ardent spirit, an idealist, always ready to devote himself to a noble cause, and was endowed with a great sang-froid and decision.
01:12:49
Speaker
He possessed the authority and power of command so essential to the true leader of men. Is it noble to undertake this? This is a purely asking like legitimate question. Is it noble to undertake a trip like this?
01:13:01
Speaker
I think so. This is a philosophical question. I'm like, is it noble? Sure, why not? yeah Yeah, I think it is. Like he died for nothing. Wasted his life. and I'm just kidding. i that's The notion of but attempting to do something nobody has done before and from everything that this has been structured around, trying to do so in a way that is largely harmless ah and just in the spirit of ah of adventure.
01:13:27
Speaker
There's something noble about that. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Anyway, just an aside. The Croisier-Jean was kind of a failure and kind of a success. No cars were able to make the trip fully from Beirut to Peking, but as a scientific mission, it had been successful. During the 11 months of travel, 5,000 photos were taken, 200,000 plus feet of film was shot, plus there were drawings, ethnological documents, mineralogical specimens taken, objects of art and archaeology were gathered, and unusual flora and fauna was collected.
01:14:01
Speaker
Cool. On April 4th, 1932, a year to the day since their departure, the expedition and their vehicles lined up along the quay in Saigon to see Hart's coffin placed aboard the steamer bound for France. Andre was waiting when it arrived on April 29th.
01:14:18
Speaker
The great lecture hall in the Sorbonne in Paris was not big enough to hold the crowd on 30th of November, 1932, to welcome back to France the members of the Citroën Central Asian Expedition. The president, two former presidents, and many notable names showed up for the event. André sat with Marshal Pétain and two other generals.
01:14:37
Speaker
He learned he was to receive the Geographical Society's gold medal. According to French author Sylvain Reiner, Three years later, a box from China arrived addressed to André. It contained things collected by Hart on the journey, pieces of art, rugs, presents for André.
Post-1932 Citroen Expeditions
01:14:53
Speaker
But before they could be imported to France, a hefty sum of outstanding customs duties needed to be paid. There had been a great change of the fortunes of the firm and family, though, and the wheel of fortune turns down as well as up. The money couldn't be found for this, or the new Citroen owners were unwilling to pay for it.
01:15:12
Speaker
Someone should invent a wheel of fortune that only goes up. Yep. yeah There were two other Citroen expeditions in the 1930s. Both were privately organized and funded.
01:15:23
Speaker
One took place in Canada and the other in Antarctica, but we're only going to talk about the Canadian one. Okay. Interesting. is that antarc Wait, an Antarctica one too? Yep. The Quasier... What?
01:15:36
Speaker
ah The Antarctica one, if we're not going to talk about it, did it work? I don't know. ah Fair enough. I'm going to a imagine it was not a spectacular success, so there'd be something to say about it. They probably went, oh, this is cold, and then went back.
01:15:53
Speaker
Yeah. High five to Penguin and fucked off. Tensible. Everything froze up and they couldn't go anywhere. The Quasier Blanche, as it was named, was devised by a man named Charles Badeau. Does that name sound familiar to you guys?
01:16:09
Speaker
No. It's ringing a bell. He was a millionaire out of America, having emigrated there from France in 1908. He made his fortune as a business efficiency expert and was looking for another adventure. Badeau had already experienced already had experience with the Citroen Caterpillar cars, having run them in Morocco, Kenya and Canada. So this is like a Richard Branson type.
01:16:30
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. That kind of sounds like that's why I went. Want to have some adventures. Yeah. sorry what was that day That's why I said, oh, God, bored businessman who wants to become an adventurer. You either end up like this. This is how you end up getting McAfee'd. Yeah, you're crushed in a submarine on your way to the Titanic. Yep. Spushed into paste.
01:16:53
Speaker
Badeau's aim with this expedition was to open a route from Edmonton, Alberta to the Yukon in Alaska. He promised Andre Citroen publicity and persuaded Andre to supply him with five specially equipped caterpillar cars like those that were used in the Central Asia expedition.
01:17:08
Speaker
The 28-man expedition set out north from Edmonton in early July 1934. They reached Fort St. John about 410 miles or 660 kilometers northwest of Edmonton without issue.
01:17:22
Speaker
But that's where the smooth sailing ended. I was about to say, there's a point where it starts to get very difficult. Yeah. Did they just go upriver maybe before? No, but they were, there're no, they're driving their vehicles, of course. Yes.
01:17:36
Speaker
Yeah. So it's kind of a swampy land though, isn't it? um I'm not sure. it depends who where you are. ah You're in the Boiler Forest at Fort St. John. Yes. Yeah. You're in Swampsville. i live in I live in Swampsville. There are swamps everywhere. But ah when you get further west, the swamps all turn into giant mountains. True.
01:17:54
Speaker
That's where I am. You're swamp people. a mountain person. There we go. I want to go back to BC. Shut up, swampy. You live here and now. Yeah, yeah you're mountain person forced and a mountain person forced to live in the swamp. I'm going make a sticker. i Enjoy your swamp. Yeah.
01:18:13
Speaker
yeah
01:18:17
Speaker
Freak weather conditions in the Rockies turned the expedition into a disaster. Heavy rains turned the tracks through ravines into rivers and everything was churned into a mess of mud. One of the caterpillar cars was lost trying to cross a river on a log raft. Two more were submerged when a rocky path gave way and they fell into a ravine.
01:18:37
Speaker
This left only two vehicles to transport all the men on the mission and their supplies. And to be clear, these vehicles crossed the Himalayas, the most, like, legendarily impassable mountain range on the planet, and the Rockies, which we have all crossed 80 million times by car. Now, granted, they put highways there by now, but wow.
01:19:01
Speaker
ah losers I can cross the Rockies whenever I want. I can do it right Skill issue. like yeah Yeah, exactly. Skill issue. Beat you in Valemont. Yeah. Yeah, that's right.
01:19:12
Speaker
was going to say, it's pretty wild, though, that they get that far. And, like, yeah, all these vehicles have survived everything else, and this is where they kind of... No, and they're just, like, they walk into BC and then immediately get destroyed by a mudslide. Incredible. I know. It's, like, freak weather in the Rocky Mountains. Buddy, that is the weather in the Rocky Mountains. Yeah. Like, it is only freak weather. Like, come on. Anyway.
01:19:33
Speaker
and So, go on. No, they didn't know. They're exploring, after all. And then things got even worse. Ooh. Yay. The horses and the ponies they had with them suffered from the damp and frost. It affected their hooves something awful.
01:19:49
Speaker
It was finally time to admit that the forested, unmapped wilderness was too much for them. The
Citroen's Legacy and Conclusion
01:19:54
Speaker
expedition was abandoned at the onset of winter in September. Huh. Damn. So they got, ah how far did they even get?
01:20:02
Speaker
um As far as I can tell, they they made it ah a little further than Fort St. John. There's actually Citroen Peak in BC, which appears to be as far as they made it.
01:20:16
Speaker
Really? Wow. Really? So you can look that up on Google Maps and it will show you exactly where it is. Huh. That's cool. Okay, I see. Yeah. Oh, right. Because they ok they're heading northwest because they're trying to hit to the not heading straight west. and They're heading to Yukon and Alaska.
01:20:34
Speaker
Right. So they're going up at a diagonal from Fort St. John. And yeah, that gets into some tricky mountain. Okay, sorry. Please continue as it gets worse. Oh, no. what Sorry. the tra Yeah, the trench hoof. And then they're turning back and saying, fuck this. Fuck Canada. yeah I hate it here. Yeah.
01:20:53
Speaker
One of the cars was eventually recovered. And according to John Reynolds, it was donated to a museum in Saskatoon. Oh, that's cool. This was in 2006. So whether it's still in the museum and which one is a mystery.
01:21:06
Speaker
Well, on our road trip, our cross-Canada road trip, that we will be one of our... We can go find it. Yeah. Yeah. Charles Badeau was a shady fellow that eventually became famous for other reasons. He purchased a chateau in France to use as his base of operate European operations. Oh, no, he's on the Epstein list.
01:21:25
Speaker
Yeah. That's the least of his problems. but don had Bedouin had extensive business dealings with Germany and as a result had many high-level Nazi contacts, which included Hitler when he came to power in 1933.
01:21:40
Speaker
ah Every single business person except for Citroën is a fascist. Incredible. Yes. Yep. When British King Edward VIII abdicated the throne in order to marry American Wallace Simpson, Badeau offered them the use of his chateau for the wedding, even though he but but This is Jeff Bezos inviting Elon Musk to his wedding, right? This is just insane shit. And one of the most like famous, scandalous marriages of the 20th century. Amazing. The wallet the whole Wallace Simpson-Edwards thing. Yep.
01:22:15
Speaker
They did take him up on his offer. They also took him up on his offer to arrange a visit to to Germany for them in 1937. Aw, that's nice. Yeah. ah that's nice Which turned out to be quite a famous trip.
01:22:27
Speaker
Look it up. Really? Yep. I'm not going to look it up because that's going to be another episode, I think. I think it could be. Okay, that's interesting. Yeah. Or can go in our junk drawer. Like I say, we'll do a junk drawer episode. We can do a junk drawer episode. Cool.
01:22:42
Speaker
Bedouin was in a good place to commit industrial and political espionage, which led to charges that he was an undercover Nazi agent. ah yeah During the occupation of France, he acted as an intermediary between Vichy and Berlin.
01:22:56
Speaker
At the end of the war, he was arrested and by the Americans and transported to Miami to await trial, where he committed suicide. what wa Oh, man, there were some strikes against this guy.
01:23:07
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, the Campbell strike. My God. Wow. What a piece of shit. Incredible. I'm glad he came to a bad end. Yeah. Good. Good.
01:23:18
Speaker
In 1934, the Michelin family, the tire company owners, took over Citroën after ah the car manufacturer filed for bankruptcy. They put a stop to all these expeditions, these publicity stunts, and closed down the Citroën Kegress subsidiary. After all, notes John Reynolds, a Caterpillar tracked vehicle did not require tires.
01:23:37
Speaker
Andre Citroen died from stomach cancer in 1935. There is a public garden in Paris named in his honor. There is also a mountain in Northern British Columbia bearing his name. Citroen Peak appears to be the farthest north. The failed Croisier Blanche made it. huh Croisier Blanche. It's funny they're defeated by Alberta. I mean, among us hasn't been though? That was, uh, and I was, that was a hell of a story. My God. Yeah. Damn. Fascinating. And it just makes me think like, what did they, they took those Caterpillar vehicles from us. We couldn't, we could all be driving. Fuck flying cars. That's carnage.
01:24:13
Speaker
Yeah. Caterpillar car. Drive up them in the Himalayas. Yeah. That'd be great. Yeah. yeah I mean, ideally it would be electric, but you know, back in the day. Yeah. they're doingly good Electric caterpillar vehicle. that look oh Yeah, that's my next project. Well, that's an awesome story, Tracy. That was amazing. Very, very fascinating. Thank you. i just Unfortunately, there was no cannibalism. yeah i was Yeah, that's a little bit of disappointment. I guess by the 30s, you know. We can find cannibalism stories. They're plentiful.
01:24:44
Speaker
Yeah, I've got a whole list of them. Yeah, that's right. I know you do. Ha ha. But there were donor party vibes, right? Because it was getting the point where, yeah, you clearing new paths, trying to take a different route unexpectedly, all these things. Like, I guess the time you get to, I really thought to, because they were using- The indigenous people attacking you for showing up where they don't want you. Yeah.
01:25:06
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. Bandits. Yeah. bandit tail Yeah. Again, you've got ah sort of Uyghur resistance versus local indigenous ah folks with the Donner Party. But still, there's a little, you know, a little bit of similarity there.
01:25:21
Speaker
What parallels? I wish I could start a career. I was thinking I want to start a career as a bandit, but i'd just be what that's just a carjacker. Yeah, pretty much. i i bet we could invent a new form of banditry.
01:25:34
Speaker
We'll have to think about it. We need those masks. um I'll make some masks. I can't sew. We're going to be the Wonder Camera dilettante bandits. Dilettante bandits. Love it. On our road trip across. We're not very good at any form of banditry, but we dabble in everything. Yeah.
01:25:53
Speaker
Yeah. Well, it's some kind of vehicle that we can drive across the country. It's an expedition. Damn it. Yeah. Okay. Well, I think that is it for this episode of the wonder camera. We love you all equally. on And if you want to send any corrections or complaints to us, don't, but if you want to send praise contact to the wonder camera.ca.
01:26:13
Speaker
Or you can find us on blue sky at the wonder camera.ca and on Instagram. Eventually. ah Hopefully by the time this goes up, we have an Instagram account. Yeah. i mean, who knows? Probably that's, it's a plan. Yeah. well' online all the places All right. i Thanks for listening. Bye. Bye.
01:26:32
Speaker
And see. Thank you for listening to the wonder camera. Find us under the wonder camera on blue sky, YouTube, and Instagram.