https://jalopnik.com/citroen-sabotaged-wartime-nazi-truck-production-in-a-si-1836670685

[p]

  * The A.V. Club
  * Deadspin
  * Gizmodo
  * Jalopnik
  * Kotaku
  * Quartz
  * The Root
  * The Takeout
  * 
  * The Onion
  * 
  * The Inventory

 
Obsessed With The Culture Of Cars

  * Home
  * Latest
  * Reviews
  * Unpaved
  * Buying
  * Tech
  * Racing
  * Culture
  * Trucks
  * Wrenching
  * Beyond Cars
  * Espanol

  
We may earn a commission from links on this page
HomeLatestReviewsUnpavedBuyingTechRacingCultureTrucksWrenchingBeyond
CarsEspanol
 
Car Culture

Citroen Sabotaged Wartime Nazi Truck Production in a Simple and
Brilliant Way

By
Jason Torchinsky
PublishedJuly 24, 2019
Comments (244)
We may earn a commission from links on this page.
     
Image for article titled Citroen Sabotaged Wartime Nazi Truck
Production in a Simple and Brilliant Way

In case you forgot to change the batteries in your calendar, you may
not be aware that this year is the 100th anniversary of Citroen.
We've been shooting a Jason Drives special mini-series for this
centenary, and while doing some research I happened to stumble upon a
fascinating bit of wartime Citroen lore. It involves screwing with
Nazis in a genuinely clever and subtle way that nevertheless had big
repercussions. I'll explain.

Watch
Jon Cryer's First Car Came From A Film Set
CC
Share
Subtitles

  * Off
  * English

Share this Video
FacebookTwitterEmail
RedditLink
view video
Jon Cryer's First Car Came From A Film Set
 
I Need Something Sporty For Taking My Kids To School | WCSYB?
Wednesday 11:24AM
 
2024 BMW XM Label | First Drive
Tuesday 1:58PM

So, when France was occupied by the Germans in 1940, major French
factories like Citroen were forced to produce equipment for the
Nazis. Citroen president Pierre-Jules Boulanger knew he couldn't just
refuse to produce anything, but he also knew there's no way in hell
he's going to just roll over and build trucks for a bunch of filthy
Nazis. Pierre had a plan.

Advertisement

John Reynold's book Citroen 2CV describes Boulanger's sabotage
efforts. Of course, he instructed workers to set a nice, leisurely
pace when building trucks (likely Citroen T45 trucks) for the
Wermacht, but that's fairly obvious. What was brilliant was
Boulanger's idea to move the little notch on the trucks' oil
dipsticks that indicated the proper level of oil down just a bit
lower.

Advertisement

By moving the notch down, the trucks would not have enough oil, but
German mechanics would have no idea, because, hey, the little notch
on the dipstick says its just fine. Then, after the truck has been
used for a while and is out deployed somewhere crucial, whammo, the
engine seizes up, and you've got a lot of angry, stranded, vulnerable
Nazis, balling up their little fists and redly barking curses in
German.

Advertisement

It's such a fantastic act of sabotage: it's extremely cheap to
implement, it's subtle, there's no way to see something amiss is
happening as the trucks are being built, and it delivers its blow
away from the site of the sabotage and when it will cause the most
inconvenience and trouble.

I suppose it could be apocryphal, but this is one of those cases
where I'm going to choose to believe.

Advertisement

That's some mighty good sabotaging, Pierre.

Show all 244 comments