THE BLACK FOREST.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 242, 10 September 1940, Page 7

THE BLACK FOREST.

OBJECT OF R.A.F. RAIDS. The famous Black Forest, in the south of German- which has been.the object of more recent raids by the R.A.F. to destroy ammunition caches in its midst, has had a hapjner history. In times of peace it earns worldwide attention for its natural charm but, unfortunately, now that war is raging, the very qualities that have created an element of glamour cause it to be a military objective of the first grade. From the group of hills in the Black Forest, of which Feldberg (4900 ft) is the highest point, a number of streams radiate outward as tributaries to the Rhine and Danube. At Immandingen, near the source of the Danube, a subterranean channel leads to the River Aach, which flows into the lake at Constance and thus makes the Upper Damil>e a tributary of the Rhine. The Danube, reinforced by another stream from the Black Forest, then resumes its lengthy course. The Black Forest has as lakes two ancient volcanic craters, very deep and still, reflecting the 6ombre lines of the fir trees that grow in serried, orderly ranks far up the mountainsides. It is these trees —hundreds of miles of them —that are burning in great fires as a result of the incendiary bombings by the R.A.F., sweeping over a huge front. The erosion of the granite heights provides a generous soil in the sheltered valleys, where below the zone of conifers are forests of oak and beech and edible chestnuts, fat pastures and vineyards. On the southern boulderstrewn plateau occurs the heaviest rainfall in South Germany; in consequence, grazing is good and large herds of cattle are raised. The alluvial soil around the volcanic mass of the Kaiserstuhl and in the valleys that wind upward into the forest is extremely fertile.

The Black Forest is famous for its native crafts, the products of which are known all over the world. Almost every cuckoo clock that is made claims to hail from this area.