Battle of Hamburg (1945) siege by the Soviet Red Army, refused to send reinforcements. The Germans managed to resist the British in Bremen for a week; the surviving troops retreated to the Jutland peninsula. The last remaining defence was the city of Hamburg and the Germans sought to make a final stand there. After capturing Soltau, the British 7th Armoured Division of the VIII Corps was poised to assault the city. The British advance towards Hamburg was spearheaded by the 7th Armoured Division, attacking Harburg and advancing to the River Elbe across from Hamburg, with the 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division assaulting the town of
Postage stamps and postal history of Hamburg which belonged to Denmark at that time, was delivered by a Hamburg postal agent, as there was a Hamburg postal agency on Heligoland. On 1 January 1852, Hamburg joined the German-Austrian Postal Union. Since 1866, Hamburg was part of the North German Confederation, which took over the postal service in the North German Postal District on 1 January 1868. The first postage stamps of the Hamburg City Post Office were introduced on 1 January 1859. They were rectangular and in the middle was the coat of arms of the city, overlaid with the value number. Below that is the word