He was born on Nov 4, 1915 at the village of Hrachoviste in the Trencin County, Western Slovakia. He learnt Latin, French and German languages at the Nove Město upon Vah Grammar School. Imrich underwent his flying course at the Tri Duby Flying Club. He was conscripted into the Piestany garrison Having undergone the Infantery drill he was sent to the NCO course commanded by Lieut Vorel at the town of Cheb. Gablech was there till the Christmass. On Jan 1, 1937 he became a cadet of the Prostejov Military Aviation Academy to undergo his course of elementary flying there. On Mar 14, 1939 he served at the Zilina AB with No 15 Flight. On that day the Independent State of Slovakia went into existence. But the Luftwaffe took control of this AB. Slovak pilots were allowed to fly only two hours a day. Their biplanes were tanked a few litres of aviation fuel only for circuits. They were barred from escaping to Poland nearby in this way. Later No 15 Flight of No 3 Air Reg was disbanded and in April were Gablech, Luptak and Catlos posted to No 64 Flight stationed at Piestany. Imrich met Valach, Rehak and Ivanic there who had come there from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. It took some time till Cpls Lazar and Hrala found other conspirators who intended to escape to Poland by air.
This opportunity came on June 7, when flying ceased at 10 am and all were to leave for an Eva open air swimming pool due to the God Body´s celebration. The chief mechanic Sgt Ivanic had tank car keys and so he had tanked three S 328s and one Aero 101 on the previous day. All four should have taken off en mass, but Cpl. Lazar went panic. As he took off with LAC Karel Valach, a guard gave a shot and panic ensued. Shortly afterwards the second S 328 piloted by Cpl. Jozef Kana and with Sgt Frantisek Knotek onboard got airborne. Sgt. Gablech taxied his S 328 to the Slovakian Air Lines Co hangar to wait until Cpl Hrala and Sgt Ivanic took off. But Hrala had never flown Aero 101. He turned his biplane back mid runway and succeeded in taking off for the third time. He nearly crashed into a roof of one hangar. When Sgt. Imrich Gablech wanted to launch his taking off, he found out that the lower wings of his S 328 were being held by members of a local Flying Club. Full throttle overcame their power and Gablech took off. Near Zilina the Aero 101 was fired at by the Germans. Four aircraft grouped before Kralovany, but the Aero 101 got separated from three S 328s in clouds over the High Tatra Mts and landed near the Polish town of Krakov. Three S 328s at Deblin. Just after their landing in Poland all eight airmen demanded to join the French Air Force. Their arrival drew attention of Polish papers but the Goverment were afraid of provoking Hitler in this fashion. Put up in the premisses of the Polish MoD for three weeks these eight airmen were interrogated first. Later moved to the Women Hotel at 29 Dlouha St. After coming back to Deblin they were offered the Polish AF Contract and nodded. Two weeks later they were joined by thirteen Czech airmen who had not embarked a French-bound liner at the Gdynia harbour on July 27. The second group of about ninety Cz airmen including Bachurek and Havlicek was met by Imrich not before WWII. Early Sep Gablech returned to Deblin to pick up his S 328 but she had not been serviceable. On Sep 8 or 9 Gablech met Bachurek and Havlicek at a Parczew manor. On Sep 18 he was made POW by the Soviet Red Army together with them and shared the same cell in the Marganec prison till the night of Mar 4, 1940 when those two were taken away by the NKVD Secret Police officers. More details in No 4/ part of the text HERE.
Gablech was convicted and sentenced for five years in a labour camp for espionage. In July1940 he was branded a camp mutiny leader, undressed and put into an underground stock of ice for four hours. Ten more years were added to his sentence. There was a daily workload of seven cubic meters of timber and a ration of three hundred grams of bread in this labour camp. The prisoners made timber in winter and built a railway track in summer. Imrich lost his eyesight four times and only thanks to a Polish doctor, who got fish fat for him, he could see again. Imrich´s weight was mere fourty kgs in the summer of 1941. After the Hitler´s attacking the USSR suddenly the internees were ordered to go back to their camp. They went by a barge and train for three weeks as far as vicinity of Moscow. Distant German guns could be heard. Suddenly fourty or fifty thousand Polish combatants were neither guarded nor coralled by a barbed wire. They even could get acquainted themselves with the Soviet country people living in unbelievable conditions. On the next morning a rostrum was erected and a military political officer had a speech : ´Brothers help us to fight the son of bitch Hitler´. The Polish reacted : ´Give arms to us and you will see who they will be used on´.
The airmen were to register in a hut. Imrich Gablech was No 199 and only 200 were accepted. They went by train to the port of Archangelsk. They slept in a school without any straw. On Sep 26 all two hundred embarked an US-bound liner. Having passed Iceland they arrived at Kirkham on Oct 13. Having disembarked Gablech claimed his Cz nationality. Four two weeks he was in camp where a Polish bomber sqn had been stationed. Imrich was sent to the Cz London Inspectorate. He was posted to go alone to the Wilmslow Cz Depot.
Imrich Gablech amassed fifty two flying hrs in the RAF. First he flew a Miles Master four times with a Polish instructor known by him from the Deblin AB. Then he went solo but he approached Bristol too much and was escorted away by Hurricanes. While inverted in his Master Imrich lost consiousness. Subconsciously he performed a half roll, lowered flaps, came round, extended undercarriage and fixed a rudder. Having done so he fainted again. The OTU´s CO took Imrich out of the trainer and in his office could not believe his experience not only from the labour camp. That reason for his approving Imrich´s state of health good enough for a fighter pilot was out of question. Because Gablech´s nightmares woke his roommates up, he was sent to Windsor where he met Sgt Joseph Koukal who had been badly burnt in Sep 1940. Gablech was at Cosford not before 1944.
His parents were not interned during WWII though two their sons had fought against Hitler. But on Sundays a local priest publicly slated them. Imrich´s brother had deserted in the Eastern front in the Caucasus region and joined the Red Army. Even in 1946 an Imrich´s arrest warrant was seen by him in his native village for a desertion and seizure of an aeroplane. Gablech announced that in Prague and Gen. Hanus swept the case under carpet. Having arrived in Prague in 1945 Imrich worked as a flying control at the Ruzyne airport. Then he was sent to the Carlsbad Spa. Deployments at Ceske Budejovice, Olomouc, Vajnory, Brno and Trencianske Biskupice followed. Gablech preferred Prague but ordered by Gen Hanus he was posted to the Havlickuv Brod AB on June 20, 1946. Ten more former RAF members had served there including Dominik, Sadlo and Batelka. All but the first were sacked in 1948. On Jan 2, 1949 Imrich was fired too. Two years later he was imprisoned for a week in Jihlava but his accusation was not proved. So he was let free. He did menial work as by hands as in an office. Four times he was dismissed and evicted. That reason they he and his wife got indebted and purchased a lot to erect a house. Though he worked from sixty to eighty hours overtime each month his salary was mere eight hundred Czechoslovak crowns. He was reluctant to use the Communist greeting ´Hail the work´ and address the others ´Comrade´. He used to say ´Good morning´ and ´Sir´ instead.´
Awards :
White Star Order – 1965 NOTE : Under the Communist regime
White Lion Order – awarded by the Czech Rep´ s President Mr Vaclav Klaus on Oct 28, 2009
Commander´s Cross Order – on Dec 18, 2012 – a Polish one
White Double Cross Order – on Jan 31, 2014 – a Slovakian one
NOTE
He was promoted General on Nov 11, 2015