Tranin-Duverne Mission

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Tranin-Duverne Mission (Africa)
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Selected stations of the Tranin-Duverne mission on a map of Africa with today's national borders

The Tranin-Duverne mission was the first west-east crossing of Africa from the Atlantic to the Red Sea by motor vehicle . It was carried out in 1924/1925 by the French Edmond Tranin and Gustave Duverne with automobiles from the manufacturer Rolland-Pilain .

background

Several French automobile manufacturers competed for the performance of their vehicles in spectacular Africa expeditions in the 1920s. The first was Citroën with the Mission Haardt-Audouin-Dubreuil of 1922/1923. Renault sent the Gradis mission into the field in 1923/1924 . The climax was reached in 1924/1925 when Citroën dispatched the second Haardt-Audouin-Dubreuil mission, better known as Croisière Noire , and the Courtot mission , Renault launched the Delingette mission and Rolland-Pilain financed the Tranin-Duverne mission.

A Rolland-Pilain 10 CV , built in 1923, in the Musée automobile de Vendée

The latter started with two Rolland-Pilain 10 CV series passenger cars , the engines of which were equipped with a special carburetor that made it possible to use palm oil as fuel . In addition to Gustave Duverne, who later became the boss of Rolland-Pilain, the journalist Edmond Tranin for the daily newspaper Le Petit Parisien took part in the expedition . As a result, the mission was strongly geared towards high-profile reporting about itself from the start . In addition, two Swiss , whom Duverne had met at the Paris Motor Show , joined the expedition: the industrialist William Borle and the lawyer Henry Vallotton .

The Tranin-Duverne mission was officially carried out on behalf of the French Colonial Ministry . The connection of various French colonies in Africa, which were separated by colonies of other European states, played a symbolic political role .

course

French West Africa

The four members of the mission left Bordeaux , metropolitan France, on November 1, 1924 . They traveled by ship via Las Palmas , Port-Étienne and Dakar to Konakry in the colony of French Guinea in French West Africa , where they arrived on November 28 and took a short stay. From there they traveled through the interior of French Guinea: via the cities of Mamou and Dalaba and through the mountainous region of Fouta Djallon to the city of Kouroussa on the Niger River . Heavy rain initially made it difficult to continue the journey. On December 12th the city of Siguiri was reached. A cinema operator by the name of Ozanne accompanied the mission from Dakar and stayed behind in Siguiri.

Tranin, Duverne, Borle and Vallotton drove on to the French Sudan colony . Their governor Albéric Fournier received them after their arrival in the capital Bamako on December 15 and provided them with his own vehicle trailer, since one that had been reordered for the mission from Metropolitan France had not arrived. After the city of Sikasso , the travelers reached the city of Bobo-Dioulasso in the French colony of Upper Volta . On December 18, they reached their capital Ouagadougou , where they were guests of Governor Édouard Hesling . In the city of Fada N'Gourma , they made films.

The next stage led through the French colony of Niger , where the town of Say was reached on December 22nd . There, the mission managed the difficult crossing of the Niger River with a barge from the city of Niamey . The next day the men arrived in Niamey. They spent Christmas Eve in the residence of the French district commander Horace Crocicchia , who had invited all eleven Europeans who were in the city at the time. Among them was the doctor Robert Bourgeon, a participant in Citroën's Croisière Noire.

Tranin, Duverne, Borle and Vallotton wanted to cover the rest of the way from December 25th in the shortest possible time. They drove at a fast pace through the cities of Dosso , Dogondoutchi , Birni-N'Konni and Madaoua until they lost their bearings in the vast plains and feared that they were already in British Nigeria . A rider showed them the way and via the cities of Maradi and Tessaoua they reached Zinder , the then capital of the colony of Niger. There they made a detour to the town of Mirriah together with Governor Léonce Jore and his wife . They had learned that the Delingette Mission had just turned back on its north-south crossing of Africa because of an unexpected flood in Nigeria. This also overturned the plans of the Tranin-Duverne mission. Henry Vallotton and William Borle feared failure, they sold their car to Governor Jore and decided to embark back to Europe via Nigeria.

Nigeria

On December 28, they parted ways in the city of Kano , Nigeria. Tranin and Duverne continued their journey through the British colony without their Swiss companions. On January 2, 1925, they were guests of the British Representative Gordon James Lethem in the city of Maiduguri . The next day they had breakfast in Dikwa in the former palace of the ruler Rabih az-Zubayr, who had fallen a quarter of a century earlier, and reached the city of Ngala . From there they sought to get to Lake Chad along the El Beid River , which they succeeded on January 4th. For the first time an automobile had reached the shore of the lake.

Cameroon and Chad

The further route led again through French territories. On January 13th, the expedition members drove through the city of Kousséri in the colony of Cameroon and arrived on the same day, after crossing the Shari River by boat, in Fort-Lamy , the capital of the colony of Chad . There, Governor Joseph-François Reste met Alfred Delingette , Louise Delingette and their mechanic Bonneau from the Delingette Mission. Tranin and Duverne stocked up on fuel and reached the city of Bokoro on January 17th . The drive to the next station, the small Mongo post , turned out to be extremely difficult, as several dry rivers had to be crossed in the heat. A few days later, the Mission had its first flat tire since leaving. The next stops in the colony of Chad were the cities of Am Dam , Abéché and Adré .

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and Eritrea

The drivers then reached the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan , where they were warmly received by the British representative there on January 27 in the city of al-Junaina and shortly afterwards they had a meeting with a sultan of the Masalit . On February 1, they arrived in the city of al-Fashir , where they placed Reginald Arthur Bence-Pembroke , the governor of Darfur , in the former sultan's palace. The route between Abéché and al-Faschir, which led through volcanic mountains and dense forests, was previously not considered to be manageable with automobiles. Bush fires and a sandstorm made the journey even more difficult. Via the city of an-Nahud , the city of al-Ubayyid was reached on February 6th , where travelers saw the Khartoum – Nyala railway line as a reunion with European civilization. Then they went on to the White Nile and the city of Sannar , where they visited the Sannar Dam , which is under construction . On February 13th, Tranin and Duverne arrived in the city of Khartoum . They stayed in a hotel and, being foreigners, aroused the suspicion of the local police.

After the city of Kassala , the travelers reached the Italian colony of Eritrea on February 17th . In the village of Sabderat , she welcomed the head of the post on behalf of the Italian governor Jacopo Gasparini . After the cities of Tassessy , Agordat and Keren , an automobile from the governor came towards them, which took them to the capital Asmara on February 19 , where they met with Governor Gasparini. They sent a telegram to Benito Mussolini . Finally, Tranin and Duverne reached the city of Massaua on the Red Sea on February 21 . The connection between the Atlantic and the Red Sea was thus successful.

French Somali coast

In order to be in a French colony again, the men wanted to get to Djibouti on the French Somali coast . On February 24th, they left Massaua. When the mission did not arrive in Djibouti after weeks and seemed to have disappeared, Colonial Minister Édouard Daladier gave orders to clarify their whereabouts. Pierre-Amable Chapon-Baissac , the governor of the French Somali coast, then initiated a search in Eritrea with the support of the Italian colonial administration. Edmond Tranin, however, had long had a severe fever. With intermediate stops in the cities of Assab and Obock , the men finally reached Djibouti despite these adverse circumstances. Governor Chapon-Baissac did a lap of honor through the city with them. From Konakry to Djibouti they had covered 14,000 kilometers by car. After the return journey to Marseille by ship on March 29, Mayor Siméon Flaissières gave them a great reception in the town hall.

Aftermath

Gustave Duverne, Edmond Tranin and Henry Vallotton each published travelogues in book form. The mission received a long echo in the French and foreign press. The popular reporter Tranin is said to have been a role model for the fictional reporter Tintin , the title hero of the comic series by Hergé first published in 1929 . In the album Tintin au Congo, Tintin is also on the road in Africa in an automobile.

From May 1931 to February 1933 another west-east crossing of Africa took place, which is one of the most famous French ethnographic expeditions: The Dakar – Djibouti mission was carried out by Marcel Griaule , Michel Leiris , Deborah Lifchitz , Éric Lutten , Jean Mouchet , Gaston- Louis Roux and André Schaeffner . The first west-east crossing of Africa from the Atlantic to the Red Sea with cars, which led through the Sahara - and thus north of the route of the Tranin-Duverne mission - was the Belgian Transsahara Expedition of 1964/1965.

literature

  • Fabienne Castagna: Mythe et réalité du grand reportage. La mission Tranin-Duverne, première liaison automobile de Conakry à Djibouti, November 1st 1924 - April 9th ​​1925 . Mémoire de maîtrise. Université de Poitiers, Poitiers 1991.
  • Gustave Duverne: De l'Atlantique à l'Océan indien (Konakry – Djibouti) avec la mission Tranin-Duverne, November 1st 1924- April 9th ​​1925 . With a foreword by Antonin Brocard and woodcuts by Marcel Arthaud . Gianoli et Valentin, Paris 1926.
  • Edmond Tranin: Sur le dixième parallèle . Bernard Grasset, Paris 1926.
  • Henry Vallotton: L'Auto dans la brousse. Notes d'un voyage en Afrique occidentale . Fischbacher, Paris 1925.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Georges Arnaud: La conquête automobile du Sahara . In: Annales de geographie . No. 200 , 1927, pp. 174–175 ( persee.fr [accessed January 13, 2019]).
  2. ↑ a b c Mélodie Simard-Houde: Le "flou" comme clef de la fabulation. L'identité professionnelle du reporter et l'invention d'un héros romanesque (1870–1939). In: Les journalistes: identités et modernités. Actes du premier congrès Médias 19 (Paris, 8–12 June 2015). April 11, 2017, accessed January 13, 2019 (French).
  3. ↑ De l'Atlantique au Tchad: Le raid de la mission Tranin-Duverne . In: Omnia. Revue pratique de l'automobile . No. 57 , February 1925, p. 716 ( digitized on Gallica [accessed January 13, 2019]).
  4. ↑ Rolland Pilain. Association les amis de Rolland Pilain, accessed January 13, 2019 (French).
  5. ↑ Gustave Duverne: De l'Atlantique à l'Océan indien (Konakry – Djibouti) avec la mission Tranin-Duverne, November 1st 1924- April 9th ​​1925 . With a foreword by Antonin Brocard and woodcuts by Marcel Arthaud. Gianoli et Valentin, Paris 1926, p. 2-3 .
  6. ↑ TRANIN et Duverne en route pour la France . In: La Lanterne. Journal politique quotidien . No. 17409 , March 31, 1925, pp. 2 ( digitized on Gallica [accessed January 13, 2019]).
  7. ↑ Gustave Duverne: De l'Atlantique à l'Océan indien (Konakry – Djibouti) avec la mission Tranin-Duverne, November 1st 1924- April 9th ​​1925 . With a foreword by Antonin Brocard and woodcuts by Marcel Arthaud. Gianoli et Valentin, Paris 1926, p. 5, 7-8 .
  8. ↑ a b c Un raid merveilleux. Sur une automobile de série, Tranin et Duverne traversent l'Afrique de l'Atlantique à la Mer Rouge . In: Le Monde Colonial Illustré . No. April 19 , 1925, p. 87 ( digitized on Gallica [accessed January 13, 2019]).
  9. ↑ Gustave Duverne: De l'Atlantique à l'Océan indien (Konakry – Djibouti) avec la mission Tranin-Duverne, November 1st 1924- April 9th ​​1925 . With a foreword by Antonin Brocard and woodcuts by Marcel Arthaud. Gianoli et Valentin, Paris 1926, p. 9-10, 16 .
  10. ↑ Gustave Duverne: De l'Atlantique à l'Océan indien (Konakry – Djibouti) avec la mission Tranin-Duverne, November 1st 1924- April 9th ​​1925 . With a foreword by Antonin Brocard and woodcuts by Marcel Arthaud. Gianoli et Valentin, Paris 1926, p. 17-19 .
  11. ↑ Gustave Duverne: De l'Atlantique à l'Océan indien (Konakry – Djibouti) avec la mission Tranin-Duverne, November 1st 1924- April 9th ​​1925 . With a foreword by Antonin Brocard and woodcuts by Marcel Arthaud. Gianoli et Valentin, Paris 1926, p. 20, 22-23 .
  12. ↑ Gustave Duverne: De l'Atlantique à l'Océan indien (Konakry – Djibouti) avec la mission Tranin-Duverne, November 1st 1924- April 9th ​​1925 . With a foreword by Antonin Brocard and woodcuts by Marcel Arthaud. Gianoli et Valentin, Paris 1926, p. 24-26 .
  13. ↑ Gustave Duverne: De l'Atlantique à l'Océan indien (Konakry – Djibouti) avec la mission Tranin-Duverne, November 1st 1924- April 9th ​​1925 . With a foreword by Antonin Brocard and woodcuts by Marcel Arthaud. Gianoli et Valentin, Paris 1926, p. 27-29 .
  14. ↑ Gustave Duverne: De l'Atlantique à l'Océan indien (Konakry – Djibouti) avec la mission Tranin-Duverne, November 1st 1924- April 9th ​​1925 . With a foreword by Antonin Brocard and woodcuts by Marcel Arthaud. Gianoli et Valentin, Paris 1926, p. 30-33 .
  15. ↑ Gustave Duverne: De l'Atlantique à l'Océan indien (Konakry – Djibouti) avec la mission Tranin-Duverne, November 1st 1924- April 9th ​​1925 . With a foreword by Antonin Brocard and woodcuts by Marcel Arthaud. Gianoli et Valentin, Paris 1926, p. 40-41, 45 .
  16. ↑ Gustave Duverne: De l'Atlantique à l'Océan indien (Konakry – Djibouti) avec la mission Tranin-Duverne, November 1st 1924- April 9th ​​1925 . With a foreword by Antonin Brocard and woodcuts by Marcel Arthaud. Gianoli et Valentin, Paris 1926, p. 46-48, 50 .
  17. ↑ Gustave Duverne: De l'Atlantique à l'Océan indien (Konakry – Djibouti) avec la mission Tranin-Duverne, November 1st 1924- April 9th ​​1925 . With a foreword by Antonin Brocard and woodcuts by Marcel Arthaud. Gianoli et Valentin, Paris 1926, p. 51 and 54 .
  18. ↑ La Mission Tranin-Duverne . In: L'Homme Libre . No. 3117 , February 4, 1925, p. 2 ( digitized on Gallica [accessed December 10, 2018]).
  19. ↑ Gustave Duverne: De l'Atlantique à l'Océan indien (Konakry – Djibouti) avec la mission Tranin-Duverne, November 1st 1924- April 9th ​​1925 . With a foreword by Antonin Brocard and woodcuts by Marcel Arthaud. Gianoli et Valentin, Paris 1926, p. 57, 59-60 .
  20. ↑ Gustave Duverne: De l'Atlantique à l'Océan indien (Konakry – Djibouti) avec la mission Tranin-Duverne, November 1st 1924- April 9th ​​1925 . With a foreword by Antonin Brocard and woodcuts by Marcel Arthaud. Gianoli et Valentin, Paris 1926, p. 66-68 .
  21. ↑ Gustave Duverne: De l'Atlantique à l'Océan indien (Konakry – Djibouti) avec la mission Tranin-Duverne, November 1st 1924- April 9th ​​1925 . With a foreword by Antonin Brocard and woodcuts by Marcel Arthaud. Gianoli et Valentin, Paris 1926, p. 69 and 73 .
  22. ^ Italiens et Français à la recherche de la mission Tranin-Duverne . In: Le Journal . March 23, 1923, p. 1 ( digitized on Gallica [accessed December 10, 2018]).
  23. ↑ Gustave Duverne: De l'Atlantique à l'Océan indien (Konakry – Djibouti) avec la mission Tranin-Duverne, November 1st 1924- April 9th ​​1925 . With a foreword by Antonin Brocard and woodcuts by Marcel Arthaud. Gianoli et Valentin, Paris 1926, p. 89, 91-92 .
  24. ↑ La Mission Tranin-Duverne arrive in Djibouti . In: L'Homme libre. Journal quotidien du matin . March 31, 1925, p. 3 ( digitized on Gallica [accessed January 13, 2019]).
  25. ↑ Le retour de la Mission Tranin-Duverne . In: Paris-Soir . April 11, 1925, p. 4 ( digitized on Gallica [accessed January 13, 2019]).
  26. ↑ Un livre qui intéressera tous les automobilistes . In: L'Afrique du Nord illustrée. Journal hebdomadaire d'actualités north africaines . No. 255 , March 20, 1926, pp. 10 ( digitized on Gallica [accessed January 13, 2019]).
  27. ↑ Alain Sulmon: Pourquoi parler français (15)? Institute of Sainte-Marcelline. Ecole française de Lausanne-Valmont, accessed on 7 December 2018 (French).
  28. ↑ Cahier Dakar – Djibouti. Éditions les Cahiers, accessed on January 13, 2019 (French).
  29. ↑ Pierre Compère: Algues du Sahara et de la région du lac Tchad . In: Bulletin du Jardin botanique National de Belgique = Bulletin van de Nationale Plantentuin van België . Vol. 37, No. 2 , June 30, 1967, p. 109 , JSTOR : 3667692 .