COMMANDO News Magazine Edition 2 2020

40 YEARS OF COMMANDO MATESHIP
A 40 YEAR PERSONAL AND MILITARY FRIENDSHIP &
THE 75 TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WARSAW UPRISING – 01 AUGUST 2019
Ifirst met Les (Lech) Gade in
1979 at Epping, NSW where
we both worked for Telecom
Australia. Despite our 30 years age
difference we quickly became
good mates. One day Les
mentioned that he had earlier
served in 1 Commando Company
and suggested that I may be
interested. Following some
gruelling tests at Georges Heights
I was signed up. Les was so
pleased he attended both my
Recruit Parade at Ingleburn in
1981 and my Green Beret
Presentation at Georges Heights
the following year. In these early
days I was unaware of Les’s
harrowing World War 2 past and
how he came from Poland to start a new life in
Australia.
Les, Warsaw and the German Invasion
Les was born in Warsaw in 1930 and grew up there
with his parents and two sisters. He lived in Warsaw’s
City Centre above a tailoring workshop operated by his
Father. He was nine years old when the Germans
invaded Poland in 1939. Three weeks after the start of
the invasion the Luftwaffe commenced terror bombing.
At the time there were no air raid shelters so they
huddled in cellars. Devastatingly, one night, Les’s
Mother was killed, and all their possessions destroyed
in a bombing raid. She had left the cellar, thinking it
was safe to do so, and had returned to their house to
cook dinner when a stray bomber dropped its bombs
on their home. They then moved in with their Uncle
and Les’s sisters were sent to live with other relatives in
the country. Les’s Father obtained another tailoring
machine and continued his work whilst Les attended
primary school.
Les was keen to be a soldier and joined the Scouts
which was very militaristic. Les never told his Father
because he knew he would have disapproved.
Meetings were conducted in secret, usually after
school. This is where Les first learned about the
Underground Home Army, or Armia Krajowa (‘AK’). He
finished primary school in 1943 and became an
apprentice radio technician in a German Telefunken
radio factory in central Warsaw.
Warsaw Uprising Commences
When the Uprising or ‘W-Hour’ arrived at 5:00pm
By Robert Davey, ACA NSW
Les Gade (L) and Robert Davey (R) at the Warsaw
Uprising Museum 2019
on 1 August 1944, as Les recalls:
I didn’t know anything about
an Uprising. Someone in our
scouting group just told me we
had to meet at an assembly point.
I left home that day without telling
my Father, and unfortunately this
was the last time I saw him as I
later learned that he, even though
he was not Jewish, was taken to
the Natzweiler concentration
camp and was subjected to
medical experimentation, and
died before the war ended. On
leaving home, I met a girl around
my age and we ran into another
street where we came under
machine gun fire from a tall
building that was under German
occupation. We eventually arrived at Hotel Victoria
guarded by a fighter carrying a German machine gun.
He was wearing the ‘AK’ armband. I told him I couldn’t
reach my assembly point. I was referred to his
lieutenant, who said “good we need a runner”.
Les sworn into Armia Krajowa (‘AK’).
I was sworn in as a
soldier of the ‘AK’,
given the rank of
private, a white and
red armband and
provided with an ID
with both my name
and an alias of
“Leszek”. No uniform
was provided and
thus I wore my usual
clothes throughout
the uprising. The
location was the
official headquarters
of Colonel, later Les’s Armia Krajowa (Polish Home
General, Antoni
Army) Identity Card
Chrusciel, “Monter”,
commander of AK forces in Warsaw. “Monter” was in
charge of the Uprising and I was effectively on his staff
as a runner.
Eventually there were four or five runners and
communications had to be delivered by a runner as
telephones were vulnerable to interception. Messages
were constantly being sent to the administration as
well as fighting units in the field. I would be provided
34 COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian Commando Association ~ Edition 2 I 2020