Bend on a German river! (5)

I believe the answer is:

seine

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'river' is the definition.
(Seine River is an example)

'bend on a german' is the wordplay.
'bend on' becomes 's' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'a german' becomes 'eine' ('a' in German).
's'+'eine'='SEINE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for seine that I've seen before include "Paris's river" , "Parisian river" , "French river -- type of fishing net" , "Paris river" , "Second longest river in France" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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