On February 22nd, 1945, Stein am Rhein was erroneously bombed. Four women and five children were killed and 15 people were seriously injured. During the Second World War, the Allies inadvertently bombed Swiss targets time and again. The pilot of the bomber later wrote in his report that during the bombing of the German town of Ebingen (in reality Stein am Rhein) he had seen red squares with large white crosses on the roofs. "What are they?", he had asked in his report. Like many American pilots at the time, he did not know what the Swiss flag looked like.
