Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Awarded on:

February 26th, 1942

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Awarded on:

April 2nd, 1942

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Awarded on:

April 20th, 1942

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Awarded on:

September 1st, 1942

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Awarded on:

August 12th, 1944

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Awarded on:

September 13th, 1944

Bronze version.

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

SS-Obersturmführer (Lieutenant)

Unit:

Führer, 3. Kompanie, SS-Panzerjäger-Abteilung 9, 9. SS-Panzer-Division "Hohenstaufen", Waffen-SS

Awarded on:

May 6th, 1945

No evidence of the award to Johann Sailer can be found in the German Federal Archives. According to Walther-Peer Fellgiebel it was presumably awarded by SS-Oberstgruppenführer Sepp Dietrich, which would make it an unlawful presentation. The sources for this assumption are H. Buch and W. Kment. According to Buch—note from 25-6-2005—he had nothing to do with this presentation. According to Scherzer, Kment cannot be the source, since Buch stated that Kment died in the early 1970s. If indeed Kment was the source then von Seemen would have listed Sailer in either the first or second edition of his book, which is not the case. Sailer himself states in his book "Kriegslebenslauf" (war diary) that he received the award on 4-5-1945. Fellgiebel dated the award on 6-5-945. He may have done this to justify this as a Dietrich award. Ernst-Günther Krätschmer lists Sailer for the first time in the 3rd edition of his book without referencing a source. Sailer also claims to have received the German Cross in Gold on 19-03-1945, which also cannot be verified. Author Manfred Dörr was allowed access to Sailer's soldbuch and noticed that the Knight's Cross entry was formally incorrect. The entry thus does not appear to be authentic. Sailer was a member of the OdR.