diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index fa15b2e10..7ce6b40cf 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,12 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/).
 
+## 0.13.2 (April 29th, 2021)
+
+### Added
+
+- Improve error message for specific case of `RemoteProtocolError` where server disconnects without sending a response. (Pull #313)
+
 ## 0.13.1 (April 28th, 2021)
 
 ### Fixed
diff --git a/httpcore/__init__.py b/httpcore/__init__.py
index b17f3b186..91972d6dc 100644
--- a/httpcore/__init__.py
+++ b/httpcore/__init__.py
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@
     "WriteError",
     "WriteTimeout",
 ]
-__version__ = "0.13.1"
+__version__ = "0.13.2"
 
 __locals = locals()
 
diff --git a/httpcore/_async/http11.py b/httpcore/_async/http11.py
index 32bc5c41e..3b55ee2a3 100644
--- a/httpcore/_async/http11.py
+++ b/httpcore/_async/http11.py
@@ -167,6 +167,19 @@ async def _receive_event(self, timeout: TimeoutDict) -> H11Event:
 
             if event is h11.NEED_DATA:
                 data = await self.socket.read(self.READ_NUM_BYTES, timeout)
+
+                # If we feed this case through h11 we'll raise an exception like:
+                #
+                #     httpcore.RemoteProtocolError: can't handle event type
+                #     ConnectionClosed when role=SERVER and state=SEND_RESPONSE
+                #
+                # Which is accurate, but not very informative from an end-user
+                # perspective. Instead we handle this case distinctly and treat
+                # it as a ConnectError.
+                if data == b"" and self.h11_state.their_state == h11.SEND_RESPONSE:
+                    msg = "Server disconnected without sending a response."
+                    raise RemoteProtocolError(msg)
+
                 self.h11_state.receive_data(data)
             else:
                 assert event is not h11.NEED_DATA
diff --git a/httpcore/_sync/http11.py b/httpcore/_sync/http11.py
index a805b8bad..3cd1c3995 100644
--- a/httpcore/_sync/http11.py
+++ b/httpcore/_sync/http11.py
@@ -167,6 +167,19 @@ def _receive_event(self, timeout: TimeoutDict) -> H11Event:
 
             if event is h11.NEED_DATA:
                 data = self.socket.read(self.READ_NUM_BYTES, timeout)
+
+                # If we feed this case through h11 we'll raise an exception like:
+                #
+                #     httpcore.RemoteProtocolError: can't handle event type
+                #     ConnectionClosed when role=SERVER and state=SEND_RESPONSE
+                #
+                # Which is accurate, but not very informative from an end-user
+                # perspective. Instead we handle this case distinctly and treat
+                # it as a ConnectError.
+                if data == b"" and self.h11_state.their_state == h11.SEND_RESPONSE:
+                    msg = "Server disconnected without sending a response."
+                    raise RemoteProtocolError(msg)
+
                 self.h11_state.receive_data(data)
             else:
                 assert event is not h11.NEED_DATA