The British army brigadier who ordered the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment into Derry's Bogside on Bloody Sunday, admitted today he didn't know what the paras planned to do after he'd deployed them.
Retired Major General Pat MacLellan said the timing of his decision to send the paratroopers in was possibly wrong.
The former officer, who was in charge of the British army in Derry when thirteen unarmed civilians were shot dead and thirteen others wounded by paratroopers in January 1972, admitted the military planners responsible for the army's operation that day did not consider the possibility that soldiers sent into the Bogside during the illegal Northern Ireland Civil Rights march, might themselves have come under fire.
The Inquiry's three judges were told that the only officer who considered the possibility that they could be fired at was Lt. Col. Derek Wilford, commander of the paras, who later said that it was his "greatest regret" that he did not pursue that issue.
Major General MacLellan said that once he'd ordered the paratroopers in, the responsibility for their actions laid with Lt. Col. Wilford, whom he described as "an experienced commanding officer, armed with the Yellow Card, so he knew the conditions on which he might open fire if necessary".
Asked by counsel to the Inquiry, Mr Christopher Clarke, QC, if the paras had any plan as to what they should do when ordered in, the witness replied - "I think the decision in those matters would be the man commanding the operation on the ground. He would have to make his own judgement".
Questioned by the Inquiry's chairman, Lord Saville, if he knew what the paras' plans were once the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment had been sent by him into the Bogside, the witness replied - "I did not know the detailed plan sir, no".
Lord Saville then asked -"As I understand it, your evidence is that your recollection is that you simply, in effect, said to 1 para 'carry out your plan', is that right?"
"That is in effect, yes sir", replied Maj. Gen. MacLellan.
"Without knowing what the plan was?", pressed Lord Saville.
"Yes sir", the witness replied.