diff --git a/ChangeLog.md b/ChangeLog.md
index beb71c127..4b5b5b568 100644
--- a/ChangeLog.md
+++ b/ChangeLog.md
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](http://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/) a
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+- fixed retry behavior of HTTP connections in case of timeout exceptions
+
 ## [6.16.0] - 2022-01-27
 
 - deprecated hash and skiplist indexes (#424)
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 2796bc1c4..52cb40be5 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 
     <groupId>com.arangodb</groupId>
     <artifactId>arangodb-java-driver</artifactId>
-    <version>6.16.0</version>
+    <version>6.16.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
     <inceptionYear>2016</inceptionYear>
     <packaging>jar</packaging>
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/arangodb/internal/http/HttpCommunication.java b/src/main/java/com/arangodb/internal/http/HttpCommunication.java
index 5468bbbbb..dcb840ce1 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/arangodb/internal/http/HttpCommunication.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/arangodb/internal/http/HttpCommunication.java
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@
 
 import java.io.Closeable;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.SocketTimeoutException;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;
 
 /**
  * @author Mark Vollmary
@@ -85,6 +87,13 @@ private Response execute(final Request request, final HostHandle hostHandle, fin
                     hostHandler.success();
                     hostHandler.confirm();
                     return response;
+                } catch (final SocketTimeoutException e) {
+                    // SocketTimeoutException exceptions are wrapped and rethrown.
+                    // Differently from other IOException exceptions they must not be retried,
+                    // since the requests could not be idempotent.
+                    TimeoutException te = new TimeoutException(e.getMessage());
+                    te.initCause(e);
+                    throw new ArangoDBException(te);
                 } catch (final IOException e) {
                     hostHandler.fail(e);
                     if (hostHandle != null && hostHandle.getHost() != null) {