Important Dates in WW II, September 12: Sudeten, RMS Laconia, Freeing Mussolini and Germany First Time

The last several days there have been quite a few dates associated with the war in the Chicago Tribune's "This Date" lists.

ON SEPTEMBER 12

**  1938:  Adolf Hitler demanded self-determination for Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia.

**  1942:  During WW II, a German U-boat off West Africa torpedoed the RMS Laconia, which was carrying Italian prisoners of war, British soldiers and civilians.

It's estimated that more than 1,600 people died while some 1,100 survived after the ship sank.  The German crew, joined by other U-boats, began rescue operations.

**  1943:  German paratroopers extracted Benito Mussolini from the hotel where he was being held by the Italian government.

**  1944:  U.S. Army troops entered Germany for the first time.

--GreGen