Citroën, André Gustave (X 1898 ; 1878-1935).

Visiting his family in Poland, he discovers in a craftsman in Lodz, a herringbone gear model still unknown. He bought the patent and exploited it in Essonne, then in Paris. Following a stay in the United States, he discovers "assembly line" work. Captain of the 82nd heavy artillery regiment between 1914 and 1918, he was one of the craftsmen of victory: he adapted the activity of his herringbone gear factory, quai de Javel in Boulogne-Billancourt, to the needs of war (treatment thermal of special steels, manufacture of shells up to 50,000 per day). In four years, it produced 9,000 trucks, 5,000 other wheeled vehicles, 2,000 tanks, 12,000 aircraft engines, 8 million buses, 24 million in total at the end of the war; she sells the 7F shrapnells each instead of 14F in the national arsenals. The number of its workers went from 5,000 in 1914 to 23,000 in 1918. Creator of the automobile industries bearing his name, he innovated by building the first French car in large series, producing the first small car (5 hp), the adoption of All Steel, the assembly of the floating engine, the traction. On the commercial front, he set up credit sales, developed networks of dealers and agents, introduced the one-year guarantee. He created taxi companies, rural transport companies, an insurance company. He initiated major raids and automobile cruises. His name has become a brand and a myth