the front line came nearer, and army units entered the town, which became the target of a heavy air-raid in the afternoon of April 16, 1945. By this attack nearly 40% of the whole town was destroyed, so it was one of the most affected places of the region. The next night it was very difficult to extinguish all the fires. All the civil population just cared about their own houses and didn't really help the fire brigade.
On April 16 there was still heavy resistance of the Germans. The Americans changed their plans and tried to take the town by encircling it. There were several casualties of these actions. The Germans had an advantage since they knew the area. In the morning of April 19, 1945, the first American tanks entered Beilstein despite tank traps. The Battle of Beilstein took the whole day; military action continued until 11 p.m.
Repairing the damages of World War II took until 1955. Then new growth started in Beilstein. Between 1956 and 1971 new building sites containing around 280 houses were created. On July 1, 1971, the municipality Schmidhausen was incorporated into Beilstein.
After 1970 the population increased heavily since Beilstein became attractive to commuters driving to Heilbronn, Ludwigsburg and Stuttgart. By a state program of redevelopment decisive resolutions occurred in 1982 to change the town's image
