Bombing of the Bezuidenhout The bombing of the Bezuidenhout took place on 3 March 1945 , when the Royal Air Force accidentally bombed the Bezuidenhout neighbourhood in the Dutch city of The Hague . At the time , the neighbourhood was more densely populated than usual with evacuees from The Hague and Wassenaar ; tens of thousands were left homeless and had to be quartered in the Eastern and Central Netherlands . The British bomber crews had intended to bomb the Haagse Bos where the Germans had installed V - 2 launching facilities that had been used to attack English cities . But the pilots were issued with the wrong coordinates so the meteorological instruments of the bombers had been set incorrectly , and fog and clouds obscured their vision . The bombs were instead dropped on the Bezuidenhout residential neighbourhood . Event . On the morning of 3 March , 56 medium and light bomber s of the B - 25 Mitchell and Boston types from No . 137 and No . 139 Wings of the Second Tactical Air Force took off from the airfields Melsbroek near Brussels and Vitry in Northern France . Between 8 and 9 o ' clock in the morning the bombers dropped 67 tonnes of brisant bombs on the Bezuidenhout , wreaking widespread destruction . Because there were insufficient fire engines and firemen ( as many of them had been either called up for " Arbeitseinsatz " or had gone into hiding to prevent being signed up ) the resulting fire was largely unchecked , killing 511 people , including eight firemen . As soon as the British realized the extent of the damage , they dropped fliers over the neighbourhood apologizing for the error . " Trouw " , the Dutch resistance newspaper , reported : " The horrors of the war are increasing . We have seen the fires in The Hague after the terrible bombings due to the V2 - launching sites . We have seen the column of smoke , drifting to the south and the ordeal of the war has descended upon us in its extended impact . We heard the screaming bombs falling on ( the ) Bezuidenhout , and the missiles which brought death and misery fell only a hundred metres from us . At the same time we saw the launching and the roaring , flaming V - 2 , holding our breath to see if the launch was successful , if not falling back on the homes of innocent people . It is horrible to see the monsters take off in the middle of the night between the houses , lighting up the skies . One can imagine the terrors that came upon us now that The Hague is a frontline town , bombed continuously for more than ten days . Buildings , burning and smouldering furiously , a town choking from smoke , women and children fleeing , men hauling furniture which they tried to rescue from the chaos . What misery , what distress . " Commemoration . The bombing is commemorated every year on the first Sunday after 3 March . In 2011 Mayor Jozias van Aartsen of The Hague as well as the Mayors of Wassenaar and Leidschendam - Voorburg ( residents of both towns helped with firefighting and caring for the survivors ) were present at the remembrance ceremony , which consisted of a church service , the laying of a wreath at the " Monument of the human mistake " ( ) and a remembrance concert in the Royal Conservatory of The Hague . A similar church service and concert were held in 2012 . Statistics . As a result of the bombing , there were :