Gestapo stole my baby boy; The secret that Scots war heroine took to her grave.

Byline: NAN SPOWART

THE heartbreaking secret that drove one of the bravest freedom fighters of World War Two into combat is finally revealed today.

The husband of Resistance heroine Loda Hyrneczko has told how his wife, who died last month at the age of 91, waged war on the Nazis after the Gestapo stole their baby son.

Her courage in the underground movement ensured her place in history as one of World War Two's most decorated women.

Her widower Vadek, 93, who still lives in the Borders town of Duns where the couple built a new life after the war, broke his silence on Mother's Day.

He told how Loda had been arrested by the Nazis in Poland in 1939 and thrown into jail, along with her 14-month-old son, also called Vadek. The baby became ill and was taken away by the German guards, who later told Loda he was dead. But she believes he survived - and was given to a German family.

After settling in Duns, the couple vowed never to speak of the loss of their infant son.

"If we did, the tears would have started. We were afraid they might never stop," said Vadek.

Now, in memory of his brave wife, he has decided to reveal the terrible secret behind her incredible fight for the Allies.

He said simply: "We had a baby son and he was stolen by the Gestapo."

Devastated, but determined to fight back, Loda became a spy for the Polish Resistance and was later awarded the Gold Cross Merit for her exceptional courage. She also received the Silver Cross Merit and Medal of Freedom, the highest awards possible from the Polish Government.

For six years Vadek knew nothing about the devastating loss of his son, as the couple were separated while he fought for the Allies.

It was only when they were reunited in 1945 that Loda told him the dreadful story.

"We agreed then never to speak about it again, as it would cause us too much sorrow," said Vadek. The couple had no more children.

When they wed in 1936, Loda was secretary to the President of Pomorze Province in Torun and Vadek was a distinguished broadcasting engineer.

In 1938, they had a baby boy, named after his father. But just over a year later, Vadek, a reserve officer in the Polish Army, was called to the front.

Loda lost contact with Vadek and on Christmas Eve 1939 the Gestapo came for her, believing her husband was a spy because of all the radio equipment in the house.

She was interrogated and flung into a freezing cell with tiny Vadek. He became ill and Loda pleaded with her guards for a doctor. When he came he took her baby and she never saw him again.

On January 26, a guard opened the door and shouted: "Your baby is being cremated today."

"That was all she was told," said Vadek.

A few weeks later, the grief-stricken mother was sentenced to 27 months hard labour for non-cooperation with the German authorities.

Bitter, but determined to find out what had happened to her son, Loda managed to survive the brutality and appalling conditions.

On her release, she returned to her bungalow in the city of Torun, but found it had been taken over by the same German High Court judge who had sentenced her.

She was allowed to stay in one room of her house - on condition that she cleaned for the German family.

Loda realised this was her chance for revenge and joined the underground movement. Over the next two years she risked her life, and saved many more, by feeding the Resistance vital papers and information she stole from the judge's office.

When Russia forced the Germans out of Torun in 1945, Loda went straight to the town hall to find out what had happened to her son.

To her horror, she discovered the page concerning her son had been ripped out of the registrar's book, along with details of another two boys of the same age.

"We believe he was stolen and sent to a German family and brought up as a German," said Vadek. He had vanished without trace. The war years had taken their toll on Loda. Seriously underweight, a doctor sent her to a town by the River Oden for a holiday. She escaped by boat to take her to Spandau and then on to West Berlin, which was by then under Allied control.

Not knowing if her husband was alive or dead, she desperately asked the British Army for information.

Word somehow got to Vadek who was commanding officer of the 16th Polish Armoured Tank Brigade in West Germany.

He crossed illegally by train to Berlin to meet her. Loda was so overcome with emotion when she saw him that she fainted. When she came round, she told him the heartbreaking story.

Vadek said:"We chose then never to speak of it otherwise we would have spent all our years crying."

He smuggled her back to the west. They later settled in Duns, where Vadek had been stationed during the war, and together they built up a successful electrical business.

People assumed they were childless. But every year from Christmas Eve - when Loda was arrested - until January 26, when she was told her child was dead, the couple privately mourned their loss.

"We never spoke of it. We couldn't," said Vadek. "But this is war."