Reference no. DE: 488 Length 281 km Mouth Aller | River system Weser Source Thuringia Country Germany | |
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States Thuringia, Lower Saxony Main source In Leinefelde in the Eichsfeld
340 m above sea level (NN) River mouth Near Schwarmstedt into the Aller at km 52.26
25 m above sea level (NN) Progression Aller → Weser → North Sea Similar Aller, Weser, Maschsee, Harz, Fagus Factory | ||
The Leine (Old Saxon Lagina) is a river in Thuringia and Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a left tributary of the River Aller (and so of the River Weser as well) and 281 kilometres (175 mi) long.
Map of Leine, Germany
The river's source is located close to the town of Leinefelde in Thuringia. About 40 kilometres (25 mi) downriver, the river enters Lower Saxony and runs northwards.
Important towns upstream to down along its course are Göttingen, Einbeck, Alfeld and Gronau, before the river enters Hanover, the largest city on its banks. Downstream some 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of Hanover, near Schwarmstedt, the river joins the Aller and reaches the North Sea via the Weser. Only in its northern (lower) reaches is it navigable by today's smallest commercial carriers, though in the past it served as an important pre-railway barge transport artery as far upriver as Göttingen.
The river is somewhat polluted from industries and so not used for drinking water but the pollution was never severe enough to prevent fish from living in it. Like many western rivers since the 1960s, it has enjoyed successively cleaner waters since the implementation of environmental controls. People enjoy sport fishing from small boats and from along the banks, although yields are normally low.
At at least one point (Göttingen) the river is partially diverted into a canal that runs more or less parallel to the river.
In his 1986 bestseller Red Storm Rising, author Tom Clancy uses the Leine as a major obstacle to the Soviet Union's Red Army in its drive to the River Rhine and the North Sea ports of the Netherlands and Belgium through West Germany.